Pacquiao won’t go for KO vs Algieri

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao is sticking to what he has learned from his sixth-round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in December 2012.

In that fight, he tried to knock the hell out of Marquez and came close to doing it. Only Pacquiao got careless and ran into a perfectly timed right straight from his Mexican rival, and it was he instead who ended up face down in the canvass, motionless.

Pacquiao has since practiced extra caution in comeback wins over Brandon Rios and Timothy Bradley, and he’s planning to do the same in his upcoming tussle with American Chris Algieri in Macau.

In a conference call Friday morning to drum up his November 23 fight with Algieri, the Filipino icon reiterated he won’t be pursuing a knockout.

“We cannot go into the fight thinking about the knockout. A knockout will not change the result of the fight as long as we get the win,” said Pacquiao, wary of Algieri’s ability to counterpunch like Marquez.

It’s been five years since Pacquiao registered a knockout victory – the last one against Miguel Cotto in 2009 – and his trainer Freddie Roach would like to put an end to the drought. In the same call, the multi-titled cornerman expressed confidence that his prized ward will knock Algieri out.

But Pacquiao is adamant on again exercising caution. For him, when a knockout comes, it comes.

“What we are trying to do right now is to get the focus in training and for the fight that people want to see. Chris Algieri is a very dangerous fighter and we are taking nothing for granted in this training camp,” he explained.

Pacquiao got solid support from his longtime promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, who echoed his sentiments.

“Where do I stand on that situation? If someone goes up to the plate to hit a home run, he has less of a chance hitting a home run than a guy who goes up to the plate just to meet the ball. If the knockout comes, the knockout comes,” Arum said.

“But to go out and look for a knockout and to ignore other aspects of the fight, particularly against an intelligent fighter such as Algieri would be folly,” the promoter continued.

“Now if he gets a knockout, that’s great and absolutely increases the marketability, but you don’t go out there looking for the knockouts because if you do, you have less of a chance of getting it if you fight your normal fight.”