By: Danny Serratelli, ringside
In what was supposed to be a stage set for Amir Khan, 31-3, 19 KO’s to dominate and show his skills to state his case in the Floyd Mayweather Sweepstakes somebody forgot to tell 8-1 underdog, Chris Algieri, 20-2, 8 KO’s . The fight was for the WBC Silver welterweight at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn before a crowd of 7,372. In the end, Amir Khan was awarded a unanimous decision victory by scores of 115-113, 117-111 and 117 111. The Doghouseboxing/Brickcityboxing scorecard read 114-114 when the final bell rang.
After the bell it was clear that Chris Algieri truly believed he won the fight. When he heard how wide the last two scorecards had it, Algieri was totally convinced. At the same time Amir Khan looked worried and did not look confident until he actually heard his name announcer as the winner. Algieri pressed the action all night and held nothing back, but still stayed disciplined enough to compete with the sharper Khan and never get hurt. It did however appear that Algieri might have hurt Khan a few times in the fight, but Khan recovered well.
It was a very a spirited effort from Chris Algieri who was fighting for the first time under the tutelage of his new head trainer, John David Jackson. It definitely looks like the move to Jackson as his new head trainer will prove to be a wise one. It shocked Amir Khan and most at ringside when Algieri came out very aggressive in round one. The Huntington, New York fighter walked Khan down and kept this plan of attack all night.
“The style was to be the aggressor and put pressure on Amir, and not let him rest,” Algieri said at the post-fight press conference. “I don’t think I took a backwards step in the full 12 rounds. I put good pressure on, and I imposed my physical strength. I think I’m a lot stronger than a lot of people know about. I wanted to impose that early. I felt like I was having great success, especially early on. I felt like the pace was going to catch-up to him, and in the 2nd half of the fight it was going to be mine. I am a competitor, and I’m a fighter, so of course I feel like I won the fight.”
When given the opportunity to dictate the pace and distance of the fight, Amir Khan is very hard to beat, in fact the only way to beat him in the past has been if you can hurt him. Algieri, who is not a big puncher, Coach Jackson and his team, must have realized that they weren’t going to totally outbox Khan and considering their reputations and that Khan was the big favorite, it would be difficult to win close tactical rounds. Algieri is also the naturally bigger man, so the plan appeared to be to impose his will on Khan, stay on the offensive and keep Khan backing up and out of his comfort zone.
Algieri would say after the fight, “I felt great in there. I felt like I was in control of a lot of rounds. There was action because I was pressuring. I felt like I landed the cleaner, harder shots. I felt like I buzzed him several times throughout the fight. When the final bell rang, I thought it was my fight. But it was definitely disappointing and it was surprising too, but that happens sometimes. The style I fought tonight, I was just having fun. That’s the way I want to fight. That’s the way I like to fight. I like to be the aggressor. I like to put pressure and I like to hit.”
Chris Algieri has continued to step up his game while this was not a great performance for Amir Khan, he did enough to get the job done. There were a lot of close rounds, and many that could have went either way on the judges’ scorecards. While Khan was often the sharper, more polished fighter, it was clear from ringside that Algieri outworked him in more than 3 rounds.
In terms of boxing experience, Khan dwarfs Algieri, but Algieri has continued to learn on the job and this fight, despite the loss probably will make Algieri’s stock rise. Everyone is now saying how Khan is not deserving of a Mayweather fight off this performance, but this is boxing and that performance may have been exactly what Khan needed to lock up the mega fight.