Chris Algieri was knocked down twice in the first round and fought most of the fight with one eye closed Saturday night, but picked himself up off the canvas and stunned champion Ruslan Provodnikov with a split decision victory Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Algieri remained undefeated and won Provodnikov’s WBO light welterweight belt. Provodnikov lost in his first defense of the title he won from Mike Alvarado last fall.
Algieri, 30, outlanded Provodnikov 288-205 and put on a boxing clinic in the later rounds, dancing around, sticking and moving. Provodnikov kept going after the swollen right eye of Algieri but struggled to land against the
“This has been a surreal week,” Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) said. “I think I was winning the fight). The only shot that hurt me was that first shot. I could see pretty well out of the eye until round 8, but by the 12th, I was blind.
“I showed the boxing world who Chris Algieri is.”
Referee Max DeLuca scored it 117-109 for Provodnikov, but Tom Schreck and Don Trella scored it 114-112 for Algieri.
“I felt like after the knockdown I was trying to land the big punch. I have to admit runners are not my style,” Provodnikov (23-3, 16 KOs) said. “He’s just jabbing and touching me and I can’t feel anything. I thought it was close in the fight but it’s boxing reality.”
On the undercard, former U.S. Olympian Demetrious Andrade stopped England’s Brian Rose in the 7th round in a bloody mismatch to remain undefeated and retain his light middleweight belt.
Andrade (21-0, 14 KOs) knocked Rose down twice and completely dominated the fight before referee Michael Griffin stopped it early in the seventh. It appeared that Andrade broke Rose’s nose, and landed 128 power punches to Rose’s 19. Rose fell to 25-2-1 with 7 KOs.
