Freddie Roach knows that Chris Algieri uses his jabs very well, but the Hall of Fame trainer is convinced that Manny Pacquiao will find ways to neutralize his challenger's main weapon in their upcoming showdown.
Roach said in an interview with BoxingScene that Pacquiao will figure out how to stop Algieri from taking advantage of his jab and height advantage in their upcoming showdown on November 22 at the Venetian Resort in Macau.
"Taking away some of his jab is not the hardest thing in the world to do. Manny knows how to do it well," Roach said.
Algieri, who will put his unblemished 20-0 record on the line, used his jab effectively during his breakthrough win against Ruslan Provodnikov in their World Boxing Organization light welterweight title showdown in June.
Roach, who trained Provodnikov during the fight, said that they were able to neutralize Algieri's jab in the early rounds, but the Russian became so focused on scoring a knockout win, which backfired as the New Yorker managed to get into his rhythm en route to the win.
"Ruslan got past it in the first round; it's not hard to do. He just wasn't consistent with it. He was just looking for a one punch knockout and that's something you can't do with a guy like this," Roach said. "You're not going to hit him with one punch and knock him out. Ruslan had success early and then got carried away with it."
Algieri will be a heavy underdog heading into his showdown against Pacquiao, but he recently said that he will go all out to silence his critics, and his vaunted jab will be one of the main reasons why he will beat the Filipino boxing icon.
"'In terms of his speed and footwork and the things he does that everyone looks at when they think of Manny, I'm not so worried about that stuff, because what I feel is the great equalizer in boxing is the jab," Algieri said. "I don't care what you got. I don't care how strong you are. I don't care how fast you are. A good jab and a good mind can neutralize anything."
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