Lampley: Provodnikov deserved to win fight

By Boxing News - 06/15/2014 - Comments

provodnikov029999By Allan Fox: HBO commentator Jim Lampley and unofficial HBO judge Steve Weisfeld both had WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (23-3, 16 KO’s) easily beating Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision last night by the score of 117-109 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. However, two of the three judges disagreed with them in giving Algieri the win by the scores 114-112 and 114-112. The third judge had it scored the same as Weisfeld in giving Provodnikov the win by a 117-109 score.

Lampley said “I personally agree with Steve Weisfeld that Provodnikov was the deserving winner of the fight.

“As much as I admire Algieri’s performance, I still have to go with Provodnikov’s harder shots and more effective shots,” said Weisfeld.
HBO commentator Max Kellerman felt that Provodnikov had done enough to deserve a decision as well, but he said he needed to see the fight again in order to avoid “group think.”

The one HBO commentator who agreed with the decision was Andre Ward. He said “In think Algieri put on a great performance. I may be in the minority but I feel he took some heat early on, a couple of knockdowns but he recovered. Even in the midst of a damaged eye, the kid showed tonight and proved to the boxing world and the young fighters out there that you don’t have to be the biggest, you don’t have to be the fastest, you just have to work extremely hard and believe in your abilities. Chris Algieri did that tonight.”

Provodnikov landed 205 of 776 punches for a connect percentage of 26, according to HBO. Algieri landed slightly more punches I connecting on 288 of 993 shots.

What may have swayed the judges was the way that Provodnikov was missing so frequently, and getting jabbed in the face all night long. Provodnikov’s head was snapped back a number of times in each round by Algieri’s jabs, and that looked bad for him. Provodnikov needed to use head movement and keep his guard up to keep from getting hit by those shots. He didn’t do that and that’s why he lost.



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