Emmanuel Taylor in the opening rounds just could not find the next gear to keep up with Chris Algieri. I couldn't help but think of Micky Ward for all the left hook head/left hook body combinations from Algieri. Algieri stayed on the move and firing combinations all night long. By round three Teddy Atlas asks how you could not have Algieri up three rounds to nothing because Taylor hasn't "left the dressing room" yet. In round five, Taylor starts to heat up and Algieri doesn't let him take over but Taylor starts to come back on some cards (not mine) when he gets going. But Algieri's got some finesse to him at this level, that's for sure. He was too skilled for Taylor, as I saw the fight. There was nothing Taylor was going to do to get him.
One of the best heavyweight contenders of the 1980's, Gerry Cooney is in the audence tonight, it's announced in the sixth round. Cooney does an interview praising the new hometown (Huntington, NY, USA) fighter and Gerry looks and sounds healthy and happy. It's good to see. Taylor started to find more success pressuring Algieri in the second half of the fight but mostly couldn't pin him down and land more than one flush shot at a time. Algieri is borderline showboating with his movement by round seven. I think he's saying to Taylor "I'm the athlete here." the best way he knows. Taylor's letting them go but very few are finding the mark. It looks like you've got to set up some traps to wage war with Algieri and Taylor doesn't have them in his bag of tricks.
Algieri was still in control through the later rounds. Not for lack of trying by Taylor. Once he heated up he gave it a very good go. Taylor started out red hot in the final round and tried to lay it out on the line early in the round. Algieri took some good shots but didn't let the action get away too far. He finished strong enough with some of his own bombs. The fight ends with a good round from both men but it was Algieri's night, no doubt. Teddy says it's "Not a great fight but an interesting fight." and I agree. I enjoyed it. It didn't have very stiff competition on this card but it was a good main event to save the night. Both guys finished very strong and I really appreciate that.
I don't know how Algieri looks with a guy that can meet him step for step but I didn't think this one was too close. I definitely want to see this Chris Algieri again. I would be very intrigued to have him in against someone like Breidis Prescott at this juncture. Taylor will have to go back to the drawing board a bit here but I certainly wouldn't scoff at another ESPN card with him in it either. Algieri's now got Taylor, Arnaoutis and Jargal on his undefeated record. I think it's time we see him in with a bigger name after he's passed these solid tests.
Teddy Atlas' unofficial scorecard:
Total score: 97-93, for Algieri
Algieri Rounds: 1-3 & 7-10
Taylor Rounds: 4, 5 & 6
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
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