Long Island is Catching Algieri Fever

As Huntington’s own Chris Algieri takes on Manny Pacquiao halfway across the world in China on Saturday, the community is rallying around their hometown champion boxer.

“Make Huntington proud bro we are all on your side,” Matt Bruce wrote on Huntington Patch’s Facebook page. “You got heart and heart is what you need be strong brother and kick Mannys a**”

“We are all so proud of you,” wrote Cathy Russo Babinski. ”[You’re] in my prayers, good luck!”

Showing the love to Algieri is nothing new in Huntington, where his ties run deep.

Algieri, 30, grew up in Huntington. In September he was honored as a grand marshal at the Fifth Annual Huntington Awareness Day in September. And he’s taken to the ring right in his hometown at The Paramount.

A St. Anthony’s High School alum, Algieri served as captain of the varsity wrestling team and later became an assistant coach. He graduated from Stony Brook University, with honors, with a degree in health care management and later earned a master’s degree from the New York Institute of Technology.

His father Dominic serves as a Town of Huntington highway department supervisor, and his mother, Adriana, is a Huntington Hospital emergency room secretary, according to the New York Post.

A kickboxer in college, Chris Algieri won the International Sport Karate Association’s Welterweight and World Kickboxing Association Super Welterweight Championships before retiring as a kickboxer to take up prizefighting.

Algiieri boasts a 20-0 record as a professional prizefighter, including a unanimous decision over ranked contender Emmanuel Taylor at the Paramount Theater in February and his biggest victory, on national television on June 14, in which he defeated Ruslan Provodnikov at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to become the WBO Light Welterweight Champion.

Back in July, he signed to fight the legendary Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 22 in Macau, China, for Pacquiao’s world welterweight title.

Keeping it on Long Island, Algieri began his training for Saturday’s match at the Bellmore Kickboxing Academy in Bellmore.

“I have the same coaches that I’ve had since my pro debut,” Algieri told News12. “This gym is great. It has everything I need.”

Algieri will earn $1.5 million in the 12-round match against Pacquiao, which airs on HBO Pay-Per-View on Saturday at 9 p.m.

And even if his Huntington neighbors can’t be ringside, they’ll be watching.

Rookies Sportsclub at 70 Gerard Street in Huntington is getting into the action with a pay-per-view event, charging $20 at the door, with free beer or well drink.

“Come watch our hometown hero fight for the title,” Rookies wrote on its events page.

Image: Huntington Patch File Photo