Freddie Roach: Algieri should rematch Provodnikov before facing Pacquiao

Chris Algieri just won the WBO junior welterweight title from Ruslan Provodnikov with an upset split decision on Saturday night in Brooklyn, but the 30-year-old Long Islander is already thinking huge, and hoping to land a fight with another Freddie Roach-trained fighter, Manny Pacquiao.

Roach doesn't dismiss the idea of Pacquiao facing Algieri (20-0, 8 KO), but said after the fight that he thinks Algieri should give Provodnikov a rematch first, and if he wins, then maybe take on Manny.

From RingTV.com:

"I'd rather like to see him fight a rematch first, and if he won it, and he won the fight clearly, then I think that he might deserve a fight like that," said Roach. "Yeah. For Pacquiao, there's not a lot of opponents out there right now."

Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO) beat Tim Bradley in a rematch on April 12 to reclaim the WBO welterweight title, and there aren't many really attractive options out there for him, as Roach said. The leading candidate to face Manny next is Juan Manuel Marquez, who beat Mike Alvarado in what was figured to be something of an eliminator for a Pacquiao fight later this year, but it's still unknown if Marquez wants that fight, or if he'd still prefer to leave that saga completed, in his mind, with his 2012 KO of Manny.

Pacquiao currently has a likely return date of November 22 in Macau.