Chris Algieri was finally able to gloat.
Two days after the biggest win of his professional career, after enduring months of ridicule, Algieri said he didn?t have a nick on him other than the plum-size swelling below his right eye. He didn?t feel sore. His hands were fine. Nothing. Just the eye.
Soon after the fight with Ruslan Provodnikov was announced, he was scoffed at, dismissed as a pretty boy who didn?t deserve to fight for a world title.
Now, after winning a controversial split decision against Provodnikov on Saturday at Barclays Center, seizing the WBO junior welterweight belt from the Russian, he was able to revel in his unexpected victory. Algieri of Huntington, L.I., is currently the only homegrown New Yorker to own a world title.
?Other than the eye, I literally don?t have a scratch on me,? Algieri said in a phone interview on Monday. ?My body feels good. My hands feel good. I?m not even that sore. I was actually a lot more sore after my last fight. I feel great.?
When he spoke on Monday, Algieri said his right eye was still badly swollen despite taking medication to reduce the inflammation and that a follow-up visit with a physician on Tuesday would reveal the full extent of the injury.
?I can open the eye a little bit today,? he said.
On Tuesday evening, Algieri said through his publicist there was no new information to give. His promoter, Joe DeGuardia said Algieri may have suffered a fractured orbital bone in his right eye socket but that he hadn?t gotten the results back of his exams.
Algieri appeared in good spirits Tuesday morning, however, on a morning interview with 1010 WINS. And DeGuardia said that on Monday Bob Arum of Top Rank reached out to him regarding possibly making a fight between Algieri and Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 22, when Pacquiao is scheduled to get in the ring next.
Whereas Algieri made a career-high $100,000 for the bout on Saturday, allowing him to pay off his student loans (Algieri said he owed around $50,000) a bout with Pacquiao would generate far more money, perhaps a purse in the seven figures, the promoter said. Algieri has a Master?s degree in clinical nutrition and designs of possibly attending medical school. Plus, he looks like a department store model. Ken Goldfield/(Ken Goldfield for Ny Daily News Despite his nasty looking right eye, Chris Algieri says he feels great about the bout.
?I think Bob (Arum) is the type of businessman where he can see the enormous potential of a fight between Manny and Chris,? DeGuardia said in a phone interview. ?Chris is someone who brings something completely different to the table in terms of marketability that no other fighter can bring. It would be huge, him and Manny facing each other.?
The main event on HBO ?Boxing After Dark? produced the third top performing bout on cable television in 2014 with 1,046,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, a nod to both fighter?s marketability.
Following the bout on Saturday, no one could recall whether Provodnikov had a rematch clause in the contract to face Algieri again. DeGuardia said on Tuesday there was a rematch ?provision? that calls for Algieri to give Provodikov another fight over the course of his next three bouts, if Provodnikov wants it, DeGuardia said.
?So the question becomes when (Chris) exercises the provision,? DeGuardia said. ?That?s the way I read it.?
When the decision was announced on Saturday, there was a shared gasp from the crowd followed by a loud cheer. The scoring was wildly inconsistent. One judge, Max DeLuca had it 117-109 for Ruslan Provodnikov, meaning he gave nine rounds to Provodnikov and just three to Algieri. The other two judges (Don Trella and Tom Schreck) had it much closer, scoring it for Algieri, 114-112, 114-112, giving the local kid the title. A number of media members were confused by the scoring, believing that Provodnikov had clearly won. But the former world champion Paulie Malignaggi, doing television commentary in media row, loudly shouted to anyone who would listen that Algieri had clearly out-boxed the champion.
David Berlin, executive director of the New York State Athletic Commission weighed in on Tuesday with his view of the judging. The newly appointed Berlin didn?t think anything shady took place and that it was just a challenging bout to score.
?Our well-respected judges had to choose between the fighter with the more powerful punches and the boxer who threw a greater volume of punches and we are comfortable with their scoring and performance,? Berlin said in a statement to the News. ?No formal complaint has been filed with the Commission (from Provodnikov?s camp).?
Algieri admitted he was a little concerned that some of the disagreement about the outcome might take away from his victory.
?You know, initially, there was a lot of controversy from the scoring,? Algieri said. ?That?s pretty much all gone now. All I?m getting is pretty much 100% positive now. I got a lot of negativity going into this fight, leading up to it but really now the positive stuff is washing that all away and it?s been pretty cool.?
