Welterweight titlist Manny Pacquiao and challenger Chris Algieri arrived in Macau over the weekend for their showdown on Saturday night (HBO PPV, 9 ET) at the Venetian Macao’s Cotai Arena in Macau, China.
Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs), trainer Freddie Roach and the team flew in from his training camp in the Philippines with a group of 380 – yes, 380 -- friends and family. Pacquiao had so many people in his group that he needed two planes to bring them all.
Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs), trainer Tim Lane and their team had a considerably smaller group arrive from his training camp in Las Vegas.
Algieri, who arrived a day before Pacquiao, spent part of his day making an appearance before hundreds of boxing fans as he posed for pictures and answered questions at the St. Mark’s Square section of the Shoppes at Venetian.
“With 1 million square feet of retail space and over 350 stores at the Shoppes at Venetian, I think I can get in my daily roadwork and my Christmas shopping, all at the same time,” Algieri joked. “I love Macau. It was great during my last visit on the promotional tour, and it is even better this time. I am glad to be able to spend more time here.”
Algieri, a junior welterweight titleholder moving up to face Pacquiao at a catchweight of 144 pounds, said he is confident of victory because of how hard he worked during a 10-week training camp.
“I worked hard for over 10 weeks in the most strenuous and productive training camp of my career,” he said. “I had a lot of different sparring partners, including [former welterweight and junior welterweight titlist] Zab Judah, giving me different looks to prepare me for anything Pacquiao decides to throw at me. I am 110 percent prepared for our fight.”