Chris Algieri to return January 18, 2019 on DAZN

[Ruthless-RKO]

Now that Chris Algieri’s long hiatus from the ring is over, he’s on the cusp of the opportunity to regain his title.

He’s being ticketed for a fight January 18 at Hulu Theater at MSG in New York on a card streamed by DAZN, Algieri’s manager, Keith Connolly, told The Ring. After he’s through with the second fight of his comeback, Algieri could turn around and challenge Maurice Hooker for the WBO junior welterweight title on February 23 at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York.

Whether Algieri fights again just weeks later will be contingent on him earning the victory January 18 and emerging from the bout without injuries, of course. After the fight, Algieri will huddle with Connolly and determine whether they’ll go through with a title bout vs. Hooker on just a few weeks’ preparation.

Algieri (22-3, 8 knockouts) is a proven ticket-seller on Long Island; Joe Smith, who is also from the area, will challenge Artur Beterbiev on that DAZN show in February as The Ring reported Friday.

The 34-year-old didn’t compete for 31 months before he signed with Connolly last year; he returned in November with a 10-round unanimous decision victory over journeyman Angel Hernandez. Just months later, Connolly could have Algieri could in position for a title fight.

Algieri upset Ruslan Provodnikov to win the WBO’s 140-pound title in June 2014, but he never defended the belt. Instead, Algieri immediately climbed to 147 pounds for a high-stakes showdown with Manny Pacquiao. Algieri was dropped six times by the future hall of famer, but somehow reached the finish line.

He fought three more times at welterweight before his long layoff: a close-decision defeat to Amir Khan, a points victory over Erick Bone and a knockout defeat to Errol Spence Jr.

Algieri is now back in the mix at 140 pounds. He stayed in the boxing gym during his layoff, and worked as a nutritionist for middleweight titleholder Daniel Jacobs, beginning with his March 2017 fight against Gennady Golovkin.

[Mexi-Box]

Wow, he's already getting a title shot? It's a bit of a 50-50. I can see Algieri outboxing Hooker. I don't think it'd be smart for Hooker to take this fight. Algieri is practically irrelevant in boxing at the moment. Why take such a risky fight?

Linares or unifying with Ramirez would give Hooker a bigger spotlight than possibly losing a boring match against paper-fisted Algieri.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Wow, he's already getting a title shot? It's a bit of a 50-50. I can see Algieri outboxing Hooker. I don't think it'd be smart for Hooker to take this fight. Algieri is practically irrelevant in boxing at the moment. Why take such a risky fight?

Linares or unifying with Ramirez would give Hooker a bigger spotlight than possibly losing a boring match against paper-fisted Algieri.

Yeh. Algieri was 140 most his career. He probably realises, if he’s gonna get a belt, it could just be at 140.

It is a risky defence for Hooker.

Algieri has to come through his next fight though.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Chris Algieri’s comeback will continue against Danny Gonzalez on January 18.

BS.com has learned that the former WBO junior welterweight champion will square off against Gonzalez in a 10-round fight that night in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. That bout will mark Algieri’s second fight in seven weeks.

DAZN will stream the Algieri-Gonzalez bout as part of the Demetrius Andrade-Artur Akavov undercard.

[Rgoodwin]

Boxrec still has Algieri listed as a Welterweight

[Ruthless-RKO]

Boxrec still has Algieri listed as a Welterweight

Not sure what he weighed his last fight but he will be moving down to 140.

Boxrec only update it after the fight I think.

[Rgoodwin]

Boxrec still has Algieri listed as a Welterweight

Not sure what he weighed his last fight but he will be moving down to 140.

Boxrec only update it after the fight I think.

Thanks, that must be how it works. Korobov is still listed as a Light Heavyweight.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Boxrec still has Algieri listed as a Welterweight

Not sure what he weighed his last fight but he will be moving down to 140.

Boxrec only update it after the fight I think.

Thanks, that must be how it works. Korobov is still listed as a Light Heavyweight.

Yeh. After the bout, they’ll put him back as a LWW.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[PUGLET]

Wow, he's already getting a title shot? It's a bit of a 50-50. I can see Algieri outboxing Hooker. I don't think it'd be smart for Hooker to take this fight. Algieri is practically irrelevant in boxing at the moment. Why take such a risky fight?

Linares or unifying with Ramirez would give Hooker a bigger spotlight than possibly losing a boring match against paper-fisted Algieri.

Yeh. Algieri was 140 most his career. He probably realises, if he’s gonna get a belt, it could just be at 140.

It is a risky defence for Hooker.

Algieri has to come through his next fight though.

??????? Algieri is an easy payday for HOOKER, featherfisted AND chinny. I give the kid credit, though as he’s obviously a decent athlete, hard worker, tough, nice kid. etc. BUT FAIRLY obvious that he grew up and was surrounded by people who didn’t have a clue about professional fighting. It’s always amazing to me who tells/lets these guys become professional fighters.
No natural talent, can’t punch, only average speed... and you wanna fight pro?
I guess you can’t know what you don’t know.
Perhaps Long Island is like Canada..... tons of kids turn pro here and shouldn’t even be fighting, period. It’s laughable.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Chris Algieri (23-3, 8 KOs) defeated Daniel Gonzalez (17-2, 7 KOs) by unanimous decision on the Demetrius Andrade-Artur Akavov undercard at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The official scores from ringside were 98-92, 97-93, 96-94.

The scores seemed a bit wider than fans in attendance believed they should be and rained down boos when Algieri spoke to DAZN following the bout.

“A lot of the things that I have been working on, I didn’t pull the trigger on," Algieri said immediately following the bout. "I am my biggest critic and this performance wasn’t my best. I got the win and I am moving on. I’ve got to take care of this eye which is a bummer. But honestly, I felt a little off today but it is what it is. You go back to the drawing board and look to come back better.”

In his second bout since being out of the ring for two years, the 34-year-old Algieri managed to do enough to stave off an upset-minded former sparring partner who came to Madison Square Garden to stop Algieri’s dreams of winning another world title.

Working behind a crisp jab, Algieri kept Gonzalez guessing all night and off balance until a cut opened underneath Algieri’s left eye. Gonzalez used that as motivation attack but was unable to string together more than two punches at any given time to really hurt Algieri.

Algieri’s jab gained control of the opening round and controlled the pace to point where Gonzalez had to overextend to make any real contact. By the second round Gonzalez got a lot closer landing a few shots off of Algieri’s head causing a bit of swelling. Gonzalez had some good moments in the third round when he had Algieri by the ropes. Gonzalez tried to take advantage of Algieri leaning on the ropes but was just a step too slow to catch Algieri.

By the fourth round Algieri regained control of his movement again and kept Gonzalez at a good distance where Algieri could work behind his jab. The next few round went back and forth as both fighters tried to negate the other’s movement. Gonzalez had his best moments of the bout in the seventh and eighth rounds. After opening the cut under Algieri’s eye, Gonzalez tried to move in to do further damage but Gonzalez was incapable of cutting the ring off and Algieri used his legs to move in circles front and backwards avoiding Gonzalez.

Gonzalez made a last stand in the final round and had Algieri trapped for a few moments but again Algieri freed himself and evaded any meaningful shots from Gonzalez. Fans in attendance booed the scorecards as they were announced feeling the scores should have been closer.

[Mexi-Box]

Wow, he's already getting a title shot? It's a bit of a 50-50. I can see Algieri outboxing Hooker. I don't think it'd be smart for Hooker to take this fight. Algieri is practically irrelevant in boxing at the moment. Why take such a risky fight?

Linares or unifying with Ramirez would give Hooker a bigger spotlight than possibly losing a boring match against paper-fisted Algieri.

Yeh. Algieri was 140 most his career. He probably realises, if he’s gonna get a belt, it could just be at 140.

It is a risky defence for Hooker.

Algieri has to come through his next fight though.

??????? Algieri is an easy payday for HOOKER, featherfisted AND chinny. I give the kid credit, though as he’s obviously a decent athlete, hard worker, tough, nice kid. etc. BUT FAIRLY obvious that he grew up and was surrounded by people who didn’t have a clue about professional fighting. It’s always amazing to me who tells/lets these guys become professional fighters.
No natural talent, can’t punch, only average speed... and you wanna fight pro?
I guess you can’t know what you don’t know.
Perhaps Long Island is like Canada..... tons of kids turn pro here and shouldn’t even be fighting, period. It’s laughable.

No one is an easy payday for Hooker. Hooker is probably the most vulnerable champion currently. He got outboxed before, and I'm skeptical that he's improved 100-fold or whatever people think. Hell, he might even lose to Cano if they chose to fight him. That is if Cano can be asked to come and try.

[jamamb]

Wow, he's already getting a title shot? It's a bit of a 50-50. I can see Algieri outboxing Hooker. I don't think it'd be smart for Hooker to take this fight. Algieri is practically irrelevant in boxing at the moment. Why take such a risky fight?

Linares or unifying with Ramirez would give Hooker a bigger spotlight than possibly losing a boring match against paper-fisted Algieri.

Yeh. Algieri was 140 most his career. He probably realises, if he’s gonna get a belt, it could just be at 140.

It is a risky defence for Hooker.

Algieri has to come through his next fight though.

??????? Algieri is an easy payday for HOOKER, featherfisted AND chinny. I give the kid credit, though as he’s obviously a decent athlete, hard worker, tough, nice kid. etc. BUT FAIRLY obvious that he grew up and was surrounded by people who didn’t have a clue about professional fighting. It’s always amazing to me who tells/lets these guys become professional fighters.
No natural talent, can’t punch, only average speed... and you wanna fight pro?
I guess you can’t know what you don’t know.
Perhaps Long Island is like Canada..... tons of kids turn pro here and shouldn’t even be fighting, period. It’s laughable.

lol ya, the former world champ is a total joke for having turned pro, what an idiot

[PUGLET]

Call me “old school” or cantankerous or elitist.... whatever. If you can’t PUNCH even a little bit, there’s gotta be better, safer, more lucrative ways to earn a living. World Champion is a far to loosely applied term methinks, but thanks for the feedback. Cheers!

[punchoutsb]

Call me “old school” or cantankerous or elitist.... whatever. If you can’t PUNCH even a little bit, there’s gotta be better, safer, more lucrative ways to earn a living. World Champion is a far to loosely applied term methinks, but thanks for the feedback. Cheers!

There are always safer alternatives to boxing. Algieri has done just fine for himself and its a bit odd you've singled him out as someone who shouldn't have turned pro considering what he's accomplished.

[ElJefe]

I have to admit I was surprised to see Algieri return. He's got a degree, right? Was (maybe still is) working with Danny Jacobs on his nutrition. I thought he was going to go more down that route with some other NY fighters. He speaks really well so could probably easily find TV work.

But if he wants another crack at it, fair play to him. He's fought Provo, Manny, Khan and Spence. Better names than a lot of other guys around 140/147. He's a hard worker, he's game. Good luck to him. Always seems pretty realistic in his interviews as well so if he feels like he doesn't have it I think he'll know when to walk away.

[PUGLET]

TBH, the whole narrative of “smart, degree, middle class” as a marketing ploy has always bothered me, regardless of “accomplishments”. It feels like a bit of a falsehood in terms of actual “talent”. Think of that Subway dude, lots of hype... but really can’t fight. If I sounded like it was something particularly personal against Algieri, it wasn’t meant to be. “Athletic” is great, but it really doesn’t make someone a “great fighter”. That’s a whole different can of worms, anyhow... it’ll be interesting if Algieri schools that dude with 15 kids or whatever.

[jamamb]

tbh that story is at least different from the 'came up from nothing, boxing kept me off the streets' story that is repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. its good to have some change in story once in a while. and i mean theres so many fighters who never won a title or fought top level opponents and have done less in the sport then him, just seems strange to go after him and single him out and act like its a joke he even turned pro