NEW YORK - Ruslan Provodnikov entered the ring Saturday night at Barclays Center with two goals: retain his WBO junior welterweight and do so in dominating fashion. He did neither.
Chris Algeiri, a heavy underdog, used his superior height and reach to outbox Provodnikov en route to a split-decision victory. Two judges scored the bout 114-112 for Algieri; the third favored Provodnikov, 117-109. SportsWorldNews.com had it 114-112 for Provodnikov.
The 6,218 fans in attendance were treated to a classic boxer-versus-puncher matchup and most cheered loudly when Algeiri, a native of Huntington, N.Y., was announced the winner.
Despite his happy ending, the start was anything but for Algieri (20-0-0). He was floored twice in the opening round - first by a left hook to the head, a body shot would drop him seconds later.
But Algieri, trailing by three points entering the second round, maintained his composure. He began using solid footwork and a right jab to erase the early deficit.
Provodnikov (23-3-0) landed a bevy of power punches throughout the fight, but Algieri was the more active fighter thanks to his nonstop jabs and frequent hooks. His punches were not as hard as Provodnikov's but they scored nonetheless.
At various points Algieri was rocked, but he was able to recover and get off the ropes at precisely the right moment.
The most stunning part of Algieri's victory was his ability to battle through a right eye that was mostly closed for nearly the entire fight. It began swelling immediately after Provodnikov's left hook that knocked him down in the first.
In the co-main event, WBO junior middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade got off to a fast start, scoring two knockdowns in the first three rounds en route to a seventh-round TKO of Brian Rose. Andrade excited the crowd with multiple combinations as well as a left hand that repeatedly found its mark.
By the fourth round, however, Andrade's aggression diminished and the crowd grew restless. Boos began filling the arena.
Andrade (21-0-0, 14 knockouts) heard them and increased his attack in the sixth. Rose went into a tight defensive stance, but Andrade had no difficulty landing left uppercuts and body shots with both hands.
An exhausted Rose (25-2-1) could no longer intelligently defend himself in the seventh as Andrade unleashed hard rights and lefts forcing referee Michael Griffin to step in at the 1:19 mark.
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