Of course Pacquiao is still one of the top fighters in the sport, and underestimating him will land one on the canvas.
But the anticipation of a raw knockout, a nonstop freight train style of offense that Pacquiao used to display, is now missing, making the PPV all about paying for the name, rather than the fireworks.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is rolling the dice by matching Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO’s) against little known college-educated Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) on November 22nd on HBO pay-per-view from the Venetian Casino & Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China. Arum ironed out the deal on Tuesday with Algieri’s promoters Joe DeGuardia and Artie Pellulo, and he says it was an easy fight for him to make in terms of negotiations.
Arum sees the storyline for this fight being an interesting one given that Algieri has a Master’s degree and plans on attending medical school in the near future once his boxing career is over.
For weeks before Ruslan Provodnikov and Chris Algieri stepped inside the ring to face each other, the boxing community was already handing Ruslan the victory, promoting the possibility of him fighting Manny Pacquiao next.
Aside from Freddie Roach being a minor yet easily ignored roadblock, this fight was building momentum. Pacquiao needed a good performance against a top name, which at the time, Provodnikov was. Losing to Bradley did not harm Ruslan’s career, while beating Alvarado advanced it. Boxing fans were excited to see just how far Provodnikov would go in 2014, and many voiced their approval for Pacquiao vs. Provodnikov.
WBO light welterweight champion Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) has been given an offer by Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank for a fight against Pacquiao on November 22nd in Macao, China.
The offer is a seven figure one, and it’s very likely to be accepted considering that it’s likely the biggest payday that the 30-year-old Algieri has ever received. Arum is interested in wrapping up the deal as quickly as possible.
It’s obviously not a great fight, and you have to wonder why Arum isn’t trying to pursue more appealing opponents for Pacquiao that might interest boxing fans such as Lucas Matthysse, Danny Garcia, Saul “Canelo”Alvarez or Amir Khan, for starters.
In front of a huge crowd at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and an audience watching the telecast around the world including HBO in the United States, Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing had a night to remember as “The Pride of Huntington, New York” Chris Algieri shined in a twelve round split decision over World Boxing Organization (‘WBO’) Junior Welterweight Champion Ruslan Provodnikov.
In the televised co-feature Star Boxing’s WBO Junior Middleweight World Champion Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade was dominant in his first title defense, stopping mandatory contender Brian ‘The Lion” Rose of England at the 1:19 mark of the seventh round.
When he stopped rolling, referee Harvey Dock started the count. Swelling started immediately, both below and above the eye socket, causing fears that this fight was going to end early. Those fears were fed when seconds later, Chris went down again. This time it was much less violently as he took a knee. It seemed Chris needed to do so to get a moment to gather his senses. He squinted a little too in an attempt to work the eye lids, making sure they were still there.
Provodnikov appeared to have the fight in the bag in the 1st round when he put Algieri down twice on the deck with big power shots. The first was a left hook that caught him on his right eye to drop him. The second knockdown was from a right hand to the head. Algieri’s right closed up fast from the left hook, but to his credit he was able to make it through the entire fight despite losing sight out of the eye in the 12th.
Algieri reminded me a lot of Floyd Mayweather Jr with the way that he was moving around and switching hands to hit Provodnikov with. It was pure class.
(Photo credit: Ed Mulholland/HBO) If you’re looking to witness a boxing match that’s defined by the differences that exist between the two combatants, then you’d be well served to watch the upcoming WBO Jr. Welterweight bout that’s scheduled to take place this evening between Ruslan Provodnikov and Chris Algieri. For, in terms of their background, as well as in terms of their fighting style, these two present about as stark a contrast as a boxing fan could ever hope to find.
The champion, Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KO’s) is a stocky, barrel-chested Siberian with facial features that appear to have been hewn from pure granite. He looks to be the very epitome of the term “battle-hardened warrior”, and in this case appearances aren’t the least bit deceiving.
2013 was a tremendous year for boxing and rise of Ruslan Provodnikov was well documented in the media with the most notable example being HBO’s 2 days. If scripted, his real life Rocky story would be hard to believe a few years ago when Ruslan was a crude one-dimensional fighter vying to become a contender at 140.
Teaming up with world renowned trainer Freddie Roach, has helped Ruslan sharpen his strengths offensively becoming a force to be reckon with for anybody at the junior welterweight division.
After losing a closely fought dual to Mauricio Herrera, Ruslan managed to string together five straight wins in a row setting up an opportunity of a lifetime. Timothy Bradley was put through hell in his FOTY war with Provodnikov. When the smoke cleared it didn’t really matter to the fans how judges had it scored.
The co-main event will feature undefeated WBO junior middleweight champion DEMETRIUS “Boo Boo” ANDRADE making his first title defense, against No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger BRIAN “The Lion” ROSE.
These four gladiators boast a combined record of 87-3-1 (44 KOs)– a 96 percent winning percentage, with more than half of their total victories coming by way of knockout.