Algieri beats Provodnikov, captures WBO 140-pound champion

By Boxing News - 06/14/2014 - Comments

provodnikov002By Dan Amrbrose: Challenger Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KO’s) defeated WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (23-3, 16 KO’s) by a 12 round split decision on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The final judges’ scores were 117-109 for Provodnikov, and 114-112, 114-112 for Algieri.

Algieri gave Provodnikov huge problems with his movement, constant jabs and his pot shots that he was landing. Provodnikov did well when Algieri would stop moving, but the problem for Provodnikov is that Algieri rarely stopped for any length of time. The angles that Algieri was presenting Provodnikov had him looking confused. He wasn’t bothered by Algieir’s shots, because he showed very little power in the fight. What bothered Provodnikov was the jabs hitting him and not letting him set up his shots.

Provodnikov started the fight extremely well in knocking Algieri down twice in the 1st round. Provodnikov caught Algieri with a big left hook to the head that flattened him for the first knockdown. Algieri was caught with the left hook while trying to throw a left hook of his own.

Moments later, Provodnikov knocked Algieri down with a chopping right hand. The left hook that Provodnikov landed for the first knockdown injured Algieri’s right eye. As the rounds went on, Algieri’s right eye swelled up more and more with each round until by the 12th it was completely closed.

Algieri suffered a bloody nose in the 6th round, and his nose continued to bleed for the entire fight.

Where Provodnikov went wrong in this fight was that he was always looking for one big shot in each round, and that was a big mistake to make due to the constant movement that Algieri was doing.

Provodnikov said after the fight “Runners aren’t my style. He was jabbing and touching me. This is the worst style for me. I have trouble with that style. I like guys that stand in front of me and fight me. I promised that I gave an exciting fight. The fans weren’t sleeping.”

Provodnikov’s trainer Freddie Roach failed to get him to make adjustments in the fight, as he appeared to stay in plan A for the entire fight without shifting into another plan. It’s disappointing given how Roach had been bragging ahead of time how Provodnikov was going to wear Algieri down and knock him out late in the fight. That failed to happen for whatever reason.



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