WBO welterweight title challenger Chris Algieri has dismissed any potential mind games from Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach as the American nears his career-defining clash in China next week.
Algieri, 30, is gearing up for fight week as he bids to put a further dent in the Filipino’s Floyd Mayweather ambitions and claim a second world title in as many fights following his victory over Ruslan Provodnikov.
The New Yorker was addressing media before heading over to Asia for final Pacquiao preparations but was unfazed when asked about some of the derogatory comments made by Roach previously.
“I am not going to change just to promote a fight,” said Algieri. “My stance is not to go back-and-forth, and I am not fighting Freddie. That’s not the man I have to box with, so I will not go back-and-forth firing darts at each other. You don’t see Pacquiao doing that.
Pacquiao vs Algieri
“That’s Freddie’s prerogative, and that’s what he likes to do. That’s not me. Even if it helps promote the fight, that’s not my style. It is what it is. If he wants to say that, that’s fine by me. What matters is fight night and myself and Pacquiao.
“For one, he wastes his time because I don’t even read those reports. So that’s the first thing. Secondly, I hear about them from other people around me, which doesn’t make a difference. It seems kind of odd for him to be coming out so much and saying so many different things, and every day it’s a new thing.
“But as I said, I don’t read them, and I don’t care about them, and it doesn’t make a difference come fight night.
“I would imagine it is some kind of strategy, mental game, or whatnot. Freddie’s been around a long time, and maybe this has worked for him in the past, but it’s not going to work on me,” he added.
