Algieri makes weight for Pacquiao on 2nd try

MACAU -- Chris Algieri needed about 50 minutes to make weight Friday (Saturday in China) for his WBO welterweight title fight with Manny Pacquiao at Cotai Arena.

Algieri, the unbeaten WBO junior welterweight champion, weighed 144.4 when he first stepped on his scale. After stripping naked and removing a large chain, he still weighed 144.2. At that point, he had two hours to make the weight.

Algieri said he successfully made weight Thursday night in the room of a Top Rank employee.

"Maybe something happened when the scale [got] moved here," said Algieri, who has a master's in clinical nutrition.

Pacquiao weighed 143.8 pounds, making the contract limit of 144 easily on the first try.

"I'm disappointed," Pacquiao said after he was asked about Algieri's weight. He also said that Algieri looked dehydrated when they did the staredown.

Algieri ate a breakfast of oatmeal, eggs and coffee before heading to the arena for the weigh-in.

"I'd rather be well fed and feel good than sucked out and drawn," he said.

Algieri trainer Tim Lane said Algieri did not work out to make the weight and simply used the bathroom.

He said he thought there might have been a quarter pound variance on the scale.

"We have two scales upstairs and one of them said he was 143 on the dime and another said he was 143.8," Lane said. "We thought we were where we needed to be. But he had to go to the bathroom and he kind of held onto that. He's fine. ... He just had to go to the bathroom. No exercise. That was it."

When he came back to weigh in, Algieri was 143.6 on the first try. There is no fine for missing on the first attempt.

Justin Fortune, Pacquiao's strength and conditioning coach, laughed at the irony of Algieri, who has a degree in nutrition, being the one who missed weight.

"I don't have a degree but my guy made it with no problem," Fortune said, grinning.

Roach told Yahoo Sports before the weigh-in that Pacquiao weighed 143.1 last night after dinner and said he expected his fighter to come in between 143.4 and 143.8, which is exactly what happened.

That, though, didn't bother Lane.

"Pacquiao's a 126-pounder, dude," Lane said. "Of course. Pacquiao should never be at this weight. The guy walks around at probably 142. He probably ate a hamburger just before the weigh-in just to get the weight up. I'm sure he made it [easily]."

"My Dad's a coward" - Floyd Mayweather Jr. Son

It isn't a word usually associated with an undefeated professional boxer who has won championship

titles across five weight divisions. But for a son who was a witness to his father's beating of his mother four years ago, "coward" is an apt term to describe Floyd Mayweather Jr.

 

In an article published on USA Today, Koraun Mayweather, the fighter's eldest son with former partner Josie Harris, recalls the night his mother was attacked by the boxer in 2010.

 

"(My dad) said to lock my door and stay in my room," said Koraun, who is now 15 years old. "I sat there and thought about what I was going to do next. Just for like a minute."

 

Harris was asleep when Mayweather arrived with an associate, James McNair, at around 4 a.m. The boxer, agitated by the fact that his former partner was dating another man, beat her in front of their then 11-year-old son.

 

"I ran and I tried to go through the front door to go to the (security) gate," Koraun said of his actions during that night. "But then his friend (McNair) came through the door and blocked off the stairway for me to go through."

 

The boy then went back to his room, locked the door, and got out of the house through his bathroom to call for help.

 

"I just told (the guard) that my mom was getting hurt and to call the ambulance and the police," he said.

 

Four years later, Koraun is still seeing his father every once in while. Mayweather recently gifted him a golf cart for his birthday, but the boy said he is still coming to terms with what his father did, especially with the boxer's continuous denial.

 

"He is a coward," he said.

 

After everything he had seen, Koraun, now 15 years old, has no plans of taking after his father's footsteps in the boxing world.

 

"I find (boxing) boring. It is just like how people sit in the ring and fight for 12 rounds and it gets boring after a while," he said. "Sometimes they run."

Pacquiao fight, 'let's make it happen' says Mayweather

LAS VEGAS - It took just minutes after Floyd Mayweather Jr had scored a dominant win over Argentine

Marcos Maidana on Saturday before the undefeated welterweight champion faced the inevitable question.

Will Manny Pacquiao be his next opponent?

Still in the ring, still covered in sweat, Mayweather had barely time to catch his breath following a bruising 12-round battle with the hard-hitting Argentine when he was asked about the fight that has fascinated and obsessed the boxing world.

Mayweather's unanimous decision over Maidana that improved his perfect record to 47-0 immediately renewed speculation about a long-awaited super-fight between the 37-year-old American and the Filipino great.

"I got to go back and talk to my team, I'm not ducking or dodging no opponent," Mayweather said from the ring. "If a Pacquiao fight presents itself, let's make it happen."

A duel between the defence-minded Mayweather and the aggressive Pacquiao, the biggest drawcards of their generation, has long been savoured by boxing fans, if only to decide the mythical title of the world's best pound-for-pound fighter.

Filipino Pacquiao lost some of his appeal after successive defeats to American Timothy Bradley and Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, prompting talk of his possible retirement, though he has since bounced back with two impressive wins.

Five-division world champion Mayweather had been expected to meet Pacquiao in 2010 until negotiations collapsed over the American's demand for random drug testing.

Mayweather, who has hinted at illegal methods by often questioning how Pacquiao could have won world titles in an unprecedented eight weight classes.

"I don't think about Pacquiao, I don't even know him. I wish him the best but that's not my focus," said Mayweather. My focus is Floyd Mayweather that is how I got to where I got to.

"I try not to focus on anyone else's business.

"If it happens it happens. You guys can keep asking the same questions over-and-over and I will give you the same answers.

"That's not my focus.

"My business model is I am my own boss. I call my own shots."

Mayweather announced last week that he will retire in 2015 when his Showtime contract ends in two more fights.

His next fight is expected to come in May but Mayweather said no date has been set and would consider a number of opponents, including Pacquiao.

"We don't know what the future holds for Floyd Mayweather," said the champion. "What realistic is I am 47-0.

"As of right now I want to enjoy my time off. We don't know who we going to be fighting.

"We're not in a rush. We take our time that's how we got to where we got to.

"We not sure what the game plan is."