![Picture](/uploads/3/0/4/5/30450806/6685948.jpg)
Last night an unknown fighter stepped into the ring, and he had no intentions of losing. Two trips to the canvas, a closed right eye, and a relentless Siberian were obstacles he had to overcome to win. For twelve rounds, underdog Chris Algieri fired crisp combinations and used clean footwork in an effort to stall the assault of Ruslan Provodnikov. Still, Provodnikov, Beryozovo, Siberia, did find Algieri throughout the fight, and in the first round sent his larger opponent tumbling to the floor twice, once from a left hook, and then again from a right.
Both fighters made compelling cases for victory. Algieri, Huntington, New York, provided a much larger volume of punches, and earns points for ring generalship. Ruslan Provodnikov technically earned an extra three rounds for his work in the first round, and continued to batter Algieri to the head and body. If you scored the fight like the judges who scored Adrien Broner vs Paulie Malignaggi then Provodnikov wins by doing more damage with fewer but stronger punches. If you scored it like Devon Alexander vs Lucas Matthysse, then Algieri wins by showing better technical boxing ability.
Whom would you rather be? Chris Algeiri, 20-0 (8), looked like he got jumped by a trio of thugs, Provodnikov, 23-3 (16), looked like he ran a marathon in a park.
A final note on the scoring: for Algieri to earn the victory, he would have to have been given nearly all the rounds after his disastrous first. That is just too many rounds to give Algieri given the competitive nature of the fight. This was a fun, action packed fight that could have been greater had it been properly scored.