Chris Algieri: I’m a fighter, I fight

I always had the mentality that, if you wanted to be the best, you can’t just beat the best guys out there, you’ve got to beat all the guys out there.

I’ve never been a guy to pick and choose my opponents. The offers come. They tell me who and basically it’s who, when, where and how much. So, I’m a fighter. I fight. The fight came up. Here we are.

Honestly, I didn’t know a whole lot about Errol Spence. He hasn’t really fought any name guys. He’s highly touted as an amateur but hasn’t done a whole lot in the pros yet.

The opportunity is great. It’s at the Barclays Center again. We’re on NBC, which is great. And really any time I get to fight, it’s a good day for me.

Spence is trying to get that breakout fight. I was there. We’ve all been there. Every fighter on their way up is trying to get that exposure.

You know, this is a big jump up in class for him. He hasn’t really been tested yet. So, I’m here to kind of expose the truth. But honestly, I’m surprised that this fight is even happening.

I’ve been in a murderers’ row of opponents over the years. And again I think that comes down to the fact that I am willing to fight anybody. You got a fight for me? OK, we’ll fight.

I get asked all the time, “Who do you want to fight?” I’ve never picked any of the opponents. I never had an idea in my head, all right, that’s going to be the guy, then that was the guy. It’s just that the fights are there and I just have to prepare for them the best that I can and fight and go out there and be myself.

I think I’m always underestimated for whatever reason, maybe where I’m from or how I fight or whatever. I’m not really sure what it is. But I think I’ve proven myself time and time again.

I think my potential is far greater than I may have produced so far. And I’m just getting better every fight. I feel better and more comfortable as I go. And we’re just going to keep improving, keep getting better. And on April 16, it is going to be the best Chris Algieri yet.

The amazing thing about boxing is, there’s so much individuality from fighter to fighter. The styles, the physicality of the guy, what he’s good at. They’re all different and I think the best champions are the guys who fight everybody and are able to figure out every style as they go, and are able to make adjustments during fights.

All these fights that I’ve been in, not only were all these guys top-tier guys, and extremely tough fights, but none of them fought similarly. So every camp was like an entirely different game plan. I think it’s kind of an old-school mentality, the way that my career has kind of progressed and the fact that I fight everybody. I make it work.

I’ve got some losses but, if the top guys all fought each other, guess what: everybody would have losses. You have a lot of guys out there, they handpick their opponents or their team does. I’m my team. I don’t have a manager picking out my fights for me. I fight who is in front of me.

I just have a really strong sense of my self-image or my self-awareness and confidence in my abilities. In boxing in general, if you’re not supremely confident in your abilities, you know that’s going to show. You can’t think that “I’m the underdog and I’ve got to kind of squeak this out.” I’ve got to go in there and be the boss. And that’s my mentality no matter what. Whether being the boss that night means I’ve got to outbox the guy, whether being the boss means I’ve got to put my head on his chest and bang away, or I’ve just got to figure it out while I’m in there. But at the end of the day, the way I enter the ring is that I’m looking to be in control.