Boxing: Algieri wins split decision over Provodnikov
Algieri improved to 20-0 with eight wins inside the distance.
NEW YORK (AFP) - Chris Algieri survived two first-round knockdowns to claim a surprise split decision late Saturday over Ruslan Provodnikov and take the Russian s World Boxing Organization light welterweight title.
Algieri improved to 20-0 with eight wins inside the distance. He couldn t match Provodnikov s power, but even with his right eye swelling shut in the later rounds he put on a display of precision boxing that gave him the nod by scores of 114-112 from two judges, while the third judge saw it 117-109 for Provodnikov.
Provodnikov, who fell to 23-2, landed a crushing left hook to Algieri s eye in the first round and it began to swell immediately.
Later in the round Algieri had to take a knee after another punch, but again rose to continue.
"The shots I was getting hit with the first four rounds, they were few and far between," said Algieri, a native New Yorker who was fighting in front of home fans at Brooklyn s Barclays Center.
"They were big, but they were lunging shots -- he caught me on the end of the shots. Really the only shot that hurt me was that first shot."
Although his right eye was a bruised and swollen mess, Algieri said he could still see out of it through the eighth round, although by the 12th, he said, "I was blind."
On the undercard, Demetrius Andrade retained his WBO light middleweight title with a seventh-round technical knockout of England s Brian Rose.
Andrade improved to 21-0 with 14 wins inside the distance while Rose, who was knocked down twice in the first three rounds, fell to 25-2-1. Rose was taking a pounding with the referee stepped in to stop the bout 1:19 into the seventh.
