Yes, Chris Algieri is Italian-American and the unlikely new WBO Light Welterweight champion, but he is also a fighter, not a brawler and that, says Kevin Duffy, is what boxing badly needs more of.
June 14’s main event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn was supposed to be a resume-builder for rising star and WBO Light Welterweight Champion Ruslan Provodnikov, a fight that would set up the Russian boxer for a match with a top-tier name—perhaps a big payday against the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, or Juan Manuel Marquez.
Provodnikov’s little-known opponent that night at Barclays, Long Island native Chris Algieri, was an afterthought, a convenient prop to draw in Suffolk and Nassau County fans (to add to an expected pro-Provodnikov contingent from Brighton Beach) and give the Russian a second straight “W” to strengthen his promoters’ argument for a return to elite competition.
Provodnikov’s rise to prominence had, to that point, been a boon for those promoters, a chance to sell excitement in a sport that, for all its raw violence, often sorely lacks compelling events. Boring fights—ones that involve as much grabbing and pushing as punching and defending—have become frequent enough to drive fans away from all but the highest-profile bouts.
One antidote to this yawn-inducing trend is the brawler, the stand-and-trade tough guy with heavy hands and the ability to absorb big shots. Provodnikov is just such a boxer, and a highly-marketable one at that: he has a straight forward, hard-punching style, a remarkably durable chin, and a unique backstory.
Provodnikov hails from a small village in Siberia, grew up on a diet that included raw moose meat, and is trained by the widely-adored Freddie Roach. He earned his stardom in a brutal slugfest with top-five pound-for-pounder Timothy Bradley last year, an exciting and action-filled 12-round affair that won The Ring magazine’s 2013 “Fight of the Year” honors.
Algieri is an unlikely pro boxer: a middle-class New York guy with a master’s degree, he is able to make the 140-pound limit of the Light Welterweight division despite standing 5’10”.
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In short, promoters justifiably want the aggressive and exciting Provodnikov in big fights as often as possible. A quick win on June 14th, added to his victory over Mike Alvarado last October, would give him enough post-Bradley credibility to sell another major event against a well-known opponent.
For his part, Algieri is an unlikely pro boxer: a middle-class New York guy with a master’s degree, he is able to make the 140-pound limit of the Light Welterweight division despite standing 5’10”. Before the Provodnikov matchup, he had not only never faced a marquee fighter—he had never even been in a 12-round fight. He walked into the ring on June 14th as a heavy underdog, unheard-of and unheralded.
The ensuing first round seemed to confirm that the storyline would unfold as expected. Provodnikov came out throwing, and landing, big punches. He dropped Algieri twice, bruising the challenger’s right eye badly and making it look as if the night would be a short one.
From then on, however, the fight changed dramatically. While Provodnikov seemed to want to will the inevitable script—I move forward through your punches, absorbing some crowd-pleasing damage while landing devastating blows that you can’t possibly withstand—to its conclusion, Algieri authored his own, altogether unexpected story. His eye swelling massively and eventually closing, the American moved beautifully, in turns drawing in his Russian foe and then circling away to pepper him with shots from the outside.
Shifting constantly, landing punches in volume, and managing distance to avoid heavy damage while winning exchanges on the inside (although he certainly did feel a few of Provodnikov’s power shots), Algieri racked up enough scoring blows over the course of rounds 2-12 to win a split decision and take Provodnikov’s WBO Light Welterweight belt, to the astonishment of the boxing world.
Marking perhaps the first time that the public reaction to a boxing match could be easily measured in movie references, the myriad Rocky Balboa comparisons that commentators used when discussing Provodnikov before the fight—a durable power puncher who just so happened to be nicknamed “The Siberian Rocky”—were quickly edited for application to Algieri, the unlikely Italian-American challenger who overcame early adversity (and heavy facial damage) to win a championship.
More than just a satisfying against-the-odds story, Algieri’s win gives fans serious reason to be optimistic about boxing: the victory was one of technique and strategy over sheer power and brutality.
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With or without reference to any fictional character, however, the Long Islander’s unexpected, come-from-behind triumph is worth celebrating. More than just a satisfying against-the-odds story, Algieri’s win gives fans serious reason to be optimistic about boxing: the victory was one of technique and strategy over sheer power and brutality.
That technique and that strategy were all the more noteworthy for the fact that they constituted a sustained plan executed over the entirety of a match, as opposed to more commonly employed strategies that involve specific counters, or the drawing of an opponent into a certain situation in order to land one devastating shot (see Juan Manuel Marquez’s 2012 counterpunch knockout of Manny Pacquiao).
Perhaps most importantly, though, the technique and strategy made for thrilling spectator sport, with constant motion and a large number of punches landed. Chris Algieri, in short, demonstrated that there is an additional, and elegantly simple, antidote to boring matches in the ring: a well-executed gameplan of active and technical boxing. As shown on June 14th in Brooklyn, this can make for a viewing experience as exciting and rewarding as any back-and-forth brawl, for boxing purists and casual fans alike.
Algieri has now vaulted himself into consideration for matchups with some of the biggest names in boxing. Barring injury, he’ll no doubt be facing a well-known headliner from the Light Welterweight or Welterweight division in late 2014 or early 2015, likely for a paycheck larger than all of his previous fight purses combined. It will be a well-deserved opportunity, and a promising sign for spectators of the sport.
Provodnikov still has a bright future ahead of him as well, and will surely make a return to big-time main events soon. Fans should hope that the two men, tactician and brawler, find enough success to remain in the spotlight, with their respective styles elevating the quality of professional boxing for years to come.
Photo: AP