Chris Algieri

Christopher Mark Algieri (born March 2, 1984) is an American professional boxer and former kickboxer.

Algieri turned pro in 2008, and put together a record of 18–0 with 8 knockouts.

Most fights, he moved between light welterweight and welterweight.

In boxing he held the WBO junior welterweight title in 2014 and challenged for the WBO welterweight title later that year; in kickboxing he was an undefeated ISKA World welterweight and WKA World super welterweight champion.

Outside of boxing, Algieri works as a nutritionist.

Algieri was born into a working-class family in Huntington, New York, to an Italian father and an Argentine mother.

He has a bachelor's degree in healthcare science from Stony Brook University and a master's degree in clinical nutrition from the New York Institute of Technology.

Algieri has expressed his desire to go to medical school and combine his experience as a world-class athlete and his knowledge of nutrition to spearhead a practice designed to treat competitive athletes without the use of unnecessary surgeries, pharmaceuticals or long lay-offs.

Algieri began his martial arts training in Chinese Kenpo under the tutelage of Robert Mauro at the age of 10.

Algieri received his black sash at the age of 15 and began competing in amateur kickboxing at the age of 16.

While in high school, Algieri started wrestling and eventually became captain of the St. Anthony's varsity squad.

Algieri won two Catholic League titles and one Catholic State Championship, ultimately making it to the semi-finals of the Public State Tournament.

He was also awarded a wild card nomination to compete in the High School National Championships, but a knee injury barred Algieri from participating.

After high school, Algieri spent three seasons as assistant coach to the St. Anthony's Friar Wrestling team.

Algieri attended Stony Brook University and concentrated his athletic prowess to Full-Contact Kickboxing.

He then began sparring and training with Tim "Bring the Pain" Lane under the watchful eye of Mauro.

After completing an undefeated amateur career that culminated with a USKBA Northeast Championship, Algieri decided to turn professional at the age of 19.

As an amateur, Algieri won the USKBA Northeast Championship defeating Kyle Murray.

Algieri later turned professional, and won the International Sport Karate Association Welterweight and World Kickboxing Association Super Welterweight Championships, compiling a 20–0 record as a world kickboxing champion.

He also competed in the World Combat League before retiring to become a professional boxer.

On February 14, 2014, Algieri won a unanimous ten-round decision over Emmanuel Taylor, an IBF number four ranked contender, at the Paramount Theatre in Huntington, Long Island, New York, to enter the world rankings.

Algieri had accumulated wins over the likes of top prospect Jose Alejo, a bout featured on NBC Sports Network and former United States Boxing Association (USBA) Champion Mike Arnaoutis prior to the Taylor fight, and he reached 10–0 when Joe DeGuardia's Star Boxing signed him.

On June 14, 2014, Algieri got the chance of a lifetime as he faced and defeated the newly crowned WBO junior welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov, headlining on HBO's "Boxing After Dark" card at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Algieri was seen as a warm-up fight for Provodnikov, which seemed to be the case as early on Algieri was dropped and hurt twice, with his eye swelling grotesquely, essentially blinding him for the rest of the fight, it all seemed to be over.

However, Algieri fought back and began to box for the remainder of the fight, using his strong jab to keep his opponent back and moved on the outside, avoiding his Russian counterparts big looping shots.

The bout went the full 12 rounds and Algieri won via split decision to become the new WBO junior welterweight champion.

Algieri received his biggest purse at the time, $100,000 for the bout.

Algieri landing 288 of 993 punches (29%), 177 of 427 (41%) power shots.

Provodnikov landed 205 of his 776 punches thrown (26%), which included 164 of 434 power shots (38%).

Many media outlets either had Provodnikov winning wide or Algieri winning a close decision.

The fight generated high ratings for Algieri's HBO debut, averaging 1.046 million viewers, and peaking at 1.1 million viewers.

After proving himself in the Provodnikov fight, Algieri was given a big shot as he fought legendary boxer Manny Pacquiao on November 23, 2014, in Macau, for the latter's WBO Welterweight title, it was Algieri's first fight outside the State of New York.

Algieri was stripped of his belt at 140 as WBO rules mandate a fighter of theirs can only hold belts in one division at a time.

Algieri was a big underdog coming in, and in a relatively one-sided bout, Pacquiao knocked Algieri down six times and made him tumble repeatedly en route to defeating him via one-sided unanimous decision, ending Algieri's undefeated streak.

On April 3, 2015, Amir Khan announced via his wife's YouTube channel that he had agreed to a May 30 welterweight bout with Algieri in New York.

The fight was later finalized on April 15, and subsequently set for May 29 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Algieri coming off the Pacquiao loss was seen as an easy touch for Khan by many.

But with his new trainer John David Jackson, Algieri hatched a fight plan to be aggressive and apply pressure in the bout, when he usually fights on the outside with a strong jab.

Algieri was the Performance Nutrition Consultant to Division I Stony Brook University Seawolves from 2016 to 2018.

Algieri formerly served as team nutritionist to American middleweight Daniel Jacobs.