Algieri to resume boxing career on Nov. 30

The former titleholder will return after over two years on the sidelines.

Former junior welterweight titleholder Chris Algieri will return to boxing on Friday, Nov. 30, when he has a bit of a homecoming at the Paramount Theatre in Huntington, New York. His opponent will be named later this week.

“I can’t express how happy I am to be back,” said Algieri, who hasn’t fought since 2016. “It has been a long time coming and it is the perfect time to step back into the sport. I am looking forward to returning to the junior welterweight division and win another world title. There are a lot of good fights for me down the line and I can’t wait to be back in the mix on the world stage.”

Algieri, 34, hasn’t fought at the Paramount since 2014, but has a career record of 8-0 at the venue.

“I am thrilled to return to the Paramount where my last successful title run began,” he said. “The growth of my fanbase has always been an organically grown, grass roots approach; so it feels only right to give back to my hometown fans in this way.”

Algieri (21-3, 8 KO) upset Ruslan Provodnikov to win the WBO junior welterweight title in June 2014, and quickly turned around to sign on for a fight with the legendary Manny Pacquiao in November of that year in Macau.

Pacquiao routed Algieri, but Algieri came back in 2015 to lose a solid fight with Amir Khan in his next outing. After a win over Erick Bone, he was matched with rising star Errol Spence Jr. Spence, unlike Pacquiao and Khan, was able to stop Algieri, putting him away in five rounds.

But Spence has turned out to be a hell of a good fighter, too, and losing to him, even by stoppage, doesn’t mean there’s nothing left in Algieri. We’ll see what he has left in this comeback bid.