Hungry Algieri ready to climb back in the ring
LOS ANGELES — Chris Algieri has spent much of his time recently getting boxers like Brooklyn middleweight Daniel Jacobs ready for their bouts by serving as their nutritionist during training camp. Owner of a master’s degree in clinical nutrition, Algieri figures to have a long career feeding athletes and other clients. But he hasn’t exchanged his boxing gloves for oven mitts just yet.
Algieri, 34, returns to the ring Friday night when the former junior welterweight champion from Huntington, Long Island, ends a two-year layoff to take on Texan Angel Hernandez at the Paramount Theater in Huntington. Check the fite.tv website to see if the bout is available in your area through payper-view.
Algieri hasn’t fought since April 2016, when he was stopped by current IBF welterweight champ Errol Spence Jr. in the fifth round. It was Algieri’s third defeat in four fights, prompting a sabbatical from the ring. But he made it clear this week he isn’t ready to end his career as an active fighter.
His journey to becoming a world champion began at the Paramount fighting for Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing and Algieri ultimately claimed the WBO junior welterweight title by out-pointing Ruslan Provodnikov in 2014.
“The theme of this is homecoming,” Algieri said. “It’s not just because it’s the Paramount. It’s homecoming because it’s my return to inside the ropes. It’s not my return to boxing because I didn’t leave. I’ve been very intertwined with the sport even though I haven’t been competing and doing exactly what I love to do. Now I’m returning to inside the ropes where, believe me, I’m much more comfortable.”
Algieri has been looking to back in the ring and believes returning to the Paramount is the perfect setting to resume his career.
“We had options,” Algieri said. “We didn’t have to fight at Paramount. If you see the landscape of the sport, there are a lot of opportunities for guys coming up. We could have fought for bigger money on a bigger show. But it made sense to have my homecoming, my return to inside the ropes be in my home. So it’s a true homecoming at Paramount Theater with our friends and family on fight night. That’s where it all started and it made sense to come back that way.”
The welterweight division is flooded with talent: Spence, Terence Crawford, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter and Mikey Garcia are all gunning to call themselves the best in the division. Algieri has that same goal.
“I’m looking forward to making a run,” he said. “I truly believe if you don’t see yourself at the top of the division, you’re either in the wrong division or the wrong sport. I’m here to be a world champion. I’m not here for a couple of good fights. I’m not here for a couple of paydays or to be on TV. I’m here to be a world champion. That’s the goal. I made my dream come true before and I’m looking
forward to doing it again.”