Algieri sees Pacman fight as springboard

MANILA, Philippines - Chris Algieri’s name is nowhere in Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound list.

The bible of boxing has Floyd Mayweather Jr. on top of the list, followed by Andre Ward, Vladimir Klitschko, Manny Pacquiao, Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez in the Magic Six.

Rounding up the top 10 in Ring Magazine’s rankings as of Oct. 27, 2014 are Guillermo Rigondeaux, Carl Froch, Roman Gonzalez and Canelo Alvarez.

Algieri, undefeated in 20 fights, was almost unknown until he fought Ruslan Provodnikov last June, got up from a couple of knockdowns and won on points.

The boxer with Italian and Argentine roots became the WBO junior welterweight champion, and soon after he was named as Pacquiao’s opponent.

Suddenly, he was thrust into the limelight, and he told scribes recently that when he jogs around the neighborhood, “cars follow me.”

He vowed to beat Pacquiao on Nov. 23 in Macau, saying he would win every round.

Then everything will change.

“A win will propel me into the top of the pound-for-pound ratings,” Algieri said in his blog that was carried by The Sweet Science.

Then, Algieri added, he “will be viewed as one of the best boxers in all of boxing.”

In the junior welterweight division, Algieri is viewed by Ring Magazine as the No. 3 contender, only next to champion Danny Garcia, and top contenders Lucas Matthysse and Lamont Peterson.

After he beats Pacquiao, the 30-year-old Algieri will seek “the biggest fights out there.”

“I have spent a long time fighting off TV and outside the public eye. Now I want that exposure and I want to fight the biggest names out there in boxing,” he wrote in his blog.

“I want to show that I belong here. It has taken me a long time to get to this point, and I don’t plan on leaving now that I am here,” Algieri added.