I will remember. Provodnikov is the real deal. The heart of a lion, never gives up, doesnt care if hes hit, he will make algieri suffer. Algieri hasnt fought anyone like provo, he will cry at the end of the fight. He'll have nightmares of provo coming at him again and again
You know what, as huge a leap as this is, I have incorrectly picked against Algieri a few times now and have become wary. He keeps proving me wrong every time I think he is stepping up too far too soon. (Jargal, coming off his close SD loss to Steve Chambers followed by his failed effort on FNF dropping a UD to Breidis Prescott but showing a hell of a chin and coming on strong in the 2nd half; then Arnaoutis despite being shopworn, and bearing in mind Arnaoutis did go on to give Josesito Lopez major problems a few months later; then Emanuel Taylor coming off his run of back-to-back knockouts over Tito Serrano and Victor Cayo - Algieri clowned all of them...) I used to say Algieri had regional-grade slickness - as in, his defensive moves and low-impact counters will look good and be effective against journeymen and contenders for domestic and lesser titles, but likely fail him when confronted with someone better. Every time, my logic in revisiting prior footage of his biggest steps up to date runs along the lines of "I don't know, he got touched a fair amount by ABC, imagine what XYZ would do..." - and then he goes out and boxes XYZ's ears off. He seems to get hit less as time bears on as his opposition quality improves. That said, Provodnikov is still a gigantic leap up from Taylor - and part of me does want to fall back on the old logic of "Geez, look how flush Mike Arnaoutis caught Algieri with some overhand rights...can he really take ones like that from Provodnikov, who just about had Bradley shitting his pants with OHR's? :think This is a really tough one to pick. Algieri has the height, reach, work rate and that fine-tuned defense moving forward or backward - all big advantages that he could potentially use to frustrate the sometimes ponderous Russian. OTOH, the power, determination and ferocity of Provodnikov will be new uncharted territory for him and Provodnikov has obviously mixed at the higher level - as high as world class - with only two close losses to show for it...and is probably a rightful betting fave. (though perhaps by less wide a margin than he is...)
Ya I dropped a bit of vcash on Algieri because his odds are brutal but also because I can see him out boxing prov. my only issue is, does he have enough pop to keep prov honest so that prov doesn't just walk over him. I really think this is a make or break fight for both
No he doesn't but neither did Herrera. (Algieri probably has a bit less than Herrera) You don't need pop if you have a good chin, solid defense, engine built to last and the ability to move in and out with flurries to keep the slugger quiet.
I have never seen this Algeri guy fight. But if he is such a possibly style problem for Ruslan, why did his team take this fight? This is supposed to be a stay busy fight and/or showcase fight right?
This is supposed to be a world title defense, and WBO #13 Algieri took it because it was a world title shot and chance to beat a very popular boxer in an HBO main event. :?
Same reason Garcia fought Herrera. They're probably thinking his lack of power means he won't pose any problems, but I see his style giving prov tons of issues.
