Ruslan Provodnikov fought the way he always does on June 14 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, when he put his WBO light welterweight title on the line against Chris Algieri, a native of Long Island, New York. The crowd was very pro-Algieri, and that may have played a role in his stunning split-decision defeat of the "Siberian Rocky," Provodnikov.
Algieri was hurt early with a left hook to the eye that knocked him down and caused immediate and severe swelling. Seconds later, he was hit with a body shot that sent him to a knee, but said the knee was taken of his own volition. In the post fight press conference, Algieri said he took the knee so he could process the damage done to his eye.
After that first round, Algieri did a much better job of implementing his stick-and-move strategy, although he spent portions of each round in the corner or on the ropes, getting hit with hard shots from the aggressive Provodnikov.
In the end, two judges favored Algieri's boxing performance to Provodnikov's sizable advantage in terms of power--two cards had Algieri winning 114-112, while a third judge had the fight 117-109 for Provodnikov. The split decision surprised and delighted the crowd, and left Provodnikov lamenting another tough loss.
"To me it feels like he was running all night and just jabbing," Provodnikov said in the press conference through an interpreter. "You see how I look and the way he looks. To me I don't see how you can win a fight by running all night."
He also hinted that he would've been treated differently from the hometown fighter Algieri, had roles been reversed and his eye swollen shut. "I was the only one who made this fight exciting. I wont let this loss get to me," Provodnikov said.
"This isn't the first time this happened to me. HBO gave like nine more rounds to me. The local judges had the other way. And his eye was closed. It's dangerous to fight like that. He could've died. If my eye were closed like that they would've stopped it. I don't think this is fair."
It was brought up that Provodnikov lost a similar decision to Timothy Bradley last year, and Provodnikov let out a frustrated chuckle. "Another opponent of mine that's going to the hospital like Bradley. They go to the hospitals as champions? That's not right."
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