By Allan Fox: WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KO’s) says he’s going to be putting a lot of pressure on the taller 5’10” challenger Chris Algieri (19-0, 8 KO’s) in their fight on HBO two weeks from now at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Provodnikov, 5’6”, will be giving up 4 inches in height and 6 inches in reach to the 30-year-old Algieri, and he feels that he’s going to need to apply a lot of pressure against him in this fight in order to find success.
Provodnikov is no stranger to fighting taller opponents, as he’s frequently been in with taller foes during his career. In his last fight, Provodnikov stopped the 5’9” Mike Alvarado in the 10th round in their fight last October, and Provodnikov wasn’t bothered in the slightest with Alvarado’s height advantage.
“This is a great opponent and a great fight…all my career I’ve had to fight guys taller than me with longer wingspans and all I can do is try to get them and try to pressure them,” Provodnikov said via Fightnews.com. “It’s no secret what my plan is, of course I’m going to pressure. They all try to box me and they all try to move and jab, but I’m going to follow my plan and break the person down from a distance, from up close, anywhere.”
Algieri is a fighter that not only is taller than Provodnikov, but he’s also a much better mover than him, and he’s arguably a more skilled boxer with a better jab. This fight could prove to be a tough one for Provodnikov because Algieri is unbeaten and he’s very good at keeping the action on the outside where he’s able to use his height and reach advantage against his opponents.
Provodnikov might look a little better than he actually is due to his last two performances against Mike Alvarado and Tim Bradley, but both of those guys didn’t really try to box Provodnikov. Bradley and Alvarado both made the conscious decision to get in the trenches with Provodnikov and slug it out with him. It’s no wonder then that they were knocked out. But when Provodnikov has fought guys that boxed him the way that Mauricio Herrera, DeMarcus Corley and even Bradley did at times, he’s struggled and looked bad.