Mexican boxing legend Erik Morales believes that Manny Pacquiao will be a heavy favorite in his upcoming showdown against Chris Algieri, but he said that the Filipino boxing icon should be very careful with his actions.
Pacquiao, who will defend his World Boxing Organization welterweight title against Algieri on November 22 in Macau, has been talking about a possible fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. over the past several weeks.
Morales, who lost twice in his three showdowns with Pacquiao before, said that Pacquiao is making the mistake of looking past Algieri, the reigning WBO light welterweight champion.
The former world champion said that 'Pacman' should focus on Algieri first before thinking about his future fights in order to avoid another stunning loss similar to what happened during his fourth fight against Juan Manuel Marquez.
"He's thinking about Floyd Mayweather before thinking about his next opponent Algieri. The same thing happened to him when he lost to Juan Manuel Marquez," Morales said in an interview with Toluca Radio via BoxingScene. "Algieri is a young man, very tall and a lot of people do not know him. Manny has had many wars and if you underestimate your opponent you may be get a surprise."
Pacquiao drew flak over the past several weeks for allegedly underestimating Algieri. Aside from talking about a possible fight with Mayweather in 2015, Pacquiao also played in a professional basketball game in the Philippines, which put the fight at risk had the former pound-for-pound king sustained an injury.
Pacquiao, who holds a 56-5-2 record with 38 knockouts, reiterated, though, that he is not looking past Algieri, saying that he is very focused in his training for the fight.
"No, absolutely I'm not taking this fight lightly because I know his hunger and he's young and he wants to win the fight, but I will not let that happen," Pacquiao said.
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach also said that Algieri doesn't belong to the same level as Pacquiao, predicting a knockout victory for his fighter. Pacquiao reiterated, though, that he is not focused on scoring a knockout, knowing that it could backfire in the end again similar to the Marquez fight.
"I'm not thinking about the knockout because it will make me confident and careless," Pacquiao said. "If the knock-out comes it will come but my focus is to make sure that 100 percent condition and killer instinct is there, the aggressiveness is there, so that's my focus in training."
