ALLAN THE MAN

Manny Pacquiao weighed in at 143.8 lb Saturday for his welterweight world title defense, but his opponent Chris Algieri had trouble on the scales ahead of Sunday’s fight.

Undefeated American Algieri could not make the catchweight limit of 144 lb and was still 0.20 lb over after a second attempt despite stripping down to his bare essentials at the Saturday morning weigh-in (Friday night in the US) at the Venetian Macau’s Cotai Arena.

Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) was given two hours to sweat off the remaining weight and came back for a third attempt which saw him finally go under at 143.6 lb.

Despite the hiccup, which would have thrown Algieri’s final preparations for Sunday’s fight slightly behind schedule, the former kickboxer from Long Island predicted he would win.

“I did all the hard work I needed to do,” said Algieri. “I know I can count on my skills to do it. This is dream come true and I’m ready to rock.”

Before Pacquiao and Algieri square off for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title at around noon local time (0400GMT) Chinese double Olympic gold medalist flyweight Zou Shiming (5-0, 1 KO) will take on Thailand’s Kwanpichit Onesongchaigym (27-0, 12 KOs) in a 12-round final eliminator for a world title shot.

Kwanpichit, an uncanny Pacquiao look-alike dubbed ‘mini-Manny’ by the media, and Zou both weighed in right on the 112 lb flyweight limit.

There are two other world title contests on the undercard.

WBO featherweight champion and double Olympic gold medallist Vasyl Lomachenko (2-1, 1 KO) defends his title against Thailand’s Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (52-1, 33 KOs) with both exactly on the 126 lb limit.

World Boxing Association super lightweight champion Jessie Vargas from Las Vegas (25-0, 9 KOs) weighed in on the 140 lb limit for his defence against Mexico’s Antonio DeMarco (31-3-1, 23 KOs) who was a little lighter at 139.3 lb.

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