The WBO version of the junior welterweight championship of the world will be decided this Saturday, at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York. The combatants will be “The Siberian Rocky” Ruslan Provodnikov 23-2, and undefeated 19-0 Chris Algieri. First things first: if you put a grizzly bear in the ring with Provodnikov, I would bet money on Ruslan coming out with a new fur coat draped around his shoulders. The defending champion's favorite food is raw moose liver. Even though he has not admitted it yet, I speculate he obtains this by physically removing it from the moose who migrate in the Siberian Tundra (after tracking them down with his mother). Chris Algieri is a little known contender, unfamiliar to most fans and the HBO platform alike. He has no amateur career, but compiled a record of 20-0 while becoming a World Kickboxing Champion, and is a well-rounded, fundamentally sound boxer.
The strengths and weaknesses of each fighter are easily seen. Provodnikov has a significant power advantage and probably the better chin too. Algieri has advantages in height and reach, so expect him to fight tall and use those long arms to tie Provodnikov up. Hand speed and foot work are about equal, with maybe a slight edge to Algieri. Conditioning is a little harder to make out, and could be the wild card should the fight gets into the later rounds.
I predict these later rounds will not be seen by either fighter. Rounds one and two will be won by a jabbing and moving Algieri. Round three will be closer, Provodnikov will land some jabs and start peppering Algieri's body, but Algieri will do enough to win the round. Provodnikov will get working in round four, shrinking the ring on the soon-to-be desperate Algieri. Algieri will have no option to but fire back and hold in round five. Provodnikov will grin and walk through whatever punches Algieri - who has gone the distance in his last five fights - offers. A thunderous over hand right will buckle Algieri, the follow up will crash him through the ropes...but he’ll survive the round. The bell that signals the start of round six, however, will be the last one Chris Algieri hears for the night. Somewhere in that next three minutes, Provodnikov’s bombs break Algieri’s body and the Siberian logs another stoppage victory.