Manny Pacquiao's search for a November 22 opponent in Macau, China is over. After fears that Long Island-based Chris Algieri was close to missing out on the biggest payday of his young career, a "marathon lunch" with promoters Artie Pelullo and Joe DeGuardia saved the day.
Algieri nearly lost offer to fight Pacquiao?
"We had a marathon lunch. We started out meeting in the morning, then went and had a long lunch together, came back to the office and finished it up," DeGuardia said. "I called Bob to tell me we have a deal on our end. All the terms have been reached with Top Rank and we're going to paper it up.
"We were able to sit down and go through everything Chris wanted to go over and put everything together. He's gonna beat Pacquiao."
LI fighter Chris Algieri shocks Provodnikov in Brooklyn
Algieri had been concerned his slice of the pie wouldn't be big enough, as Pacquiao is a world-renowned star and Algieri was a relative unknown until upsetting Ruslan Provodnikov in Brooklyn's Barclays Center in June.
"If we're going to make this fight happen, I value myself and my health very highly," Algieri had told Newsday. "I just want what I deserve."
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum downplayed the previous controversy and claimed the deal wasn't difficult to negotiate at all.
"We have a deal. On my end, it wasn't a hard deal at all. I came up pretty much with what they were looking for and then Joe and Artie had to sit down with Algieri and cut it up fairly amongst themselves."
Algieri's big victory over Provodnikov earned him the WBO light welterweight title, but this fight won't be for his belt. Algieri is moving up to welterweight for this bout and will be competing for Pacquiao's welterweight strap.
"He wants the fight and has no problem going up in weight," DeGuardia said.
"He wants the welterweight championship. He wants challenges. He loves the idea. He wanted to fight for another championship and he loves that he is fighting Manny Pacquiao for it. He looks as Manny as an elite of the game. He wants to climb another mountain. If he wins this fight, you have the start of another era."
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