By Dan Ambrose: WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KO’s) expects challenger Chris Algieri (19-0, 8 KO’s) to not make it easy for him to fight his fight this Saturday night. Provodnikov doubts that Algieri will stand in front of him the way he likes his opponents to do. However, Provodnikov says that he’s not worried about Algieri boxing and moving for 12 rounds because he insists that he’s fought lots of fighters with the exact same style as Algieri in the last.
The truth is Provodnikov has only fought one fighter with height and good boxing skills and that was Mauricio Herrera, who easily beat him. The rest of the guys that Provodnikov fought were largely sluggers very little talent, and nowhere near as good as Algieri. If Provodnikov did fight loads up fighters like Algieri, then he did at the amateur level and not the pro level, because the guys he’s faced at the pro level have been short fighters that slugged with him.
“I have no problem fighting him [Algieri]. All my career I’ve fought guys who can box, and I’ve always fought in my style,” Provodnikov said via ESPN. “I don’t have problems fighting guys larger than I am. I think boxers have problems with the way I am. I’m going to fight the way I fight and I’m going to have to chase him. I’m not going to let him run for too long. I know what I have to do.”
I have a feeling we’re going to see Provodnikov get out-boxed again like he was in the Mauricio Herrera fight. Algieri had a big advantage in size, ring intelligence and boxing skills. The guys has a master’s degree from MIT, and he’s going to use his intelligence in this fight unless Provodnikov can show that he’s improved since the schooling that Herrera gave him.
For much of his career Provodnikov has been a very average looking fighter. It wasn’t until he faced Tim Bradley in a fight where Bradley made the decision to brawl with the badly over-matched Provodnikov where the Russian fighter began to be seen as a good fighter. In his next fight, Provodnikov was matched against a very flawed Mike Alvarado, who had been softened up previous in three grueling fights against Brandon Rios and Breidis Prescott.
Those fights took a lot out of Alvarado and left him looking like a shell of his former self by the time he fought Provodnikov.
The Provodnikov-Algieri will be taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and it’ll be televised on HBO on Saturday.
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