“I thought Chris Algieri fought a beautiful fight,” explained Artie Pelullo, the promoter of Ruslan Provodnikov. “For him to get up from two knockdowns and box the way he did is credit to Chris. Every time the doctor went and checked on him and he said he was ok. Now the decision is what it is but congrats to Chris,”
The aftermath of what was a debatable decision for Algieri against Ruslan Provodnikov this past Saturday in Brooklyn is on how you score a fight. Is it based on punches thrown and landed or the authority of those punches landed? Two of the judges this past Saturday preferred Algieri’s volume, and ring generalship, and defense.
Pelullo prefers the latter. “Certainly Chris was landing more punches but they weren’t hurting Ruslan. In comparison, Provodnikov, when he landed, they hurt Chris. But again, I thought it was a good fight and I think it will do a good number on HBO.”
The Provodnikov-Algieri main event actually peaked at 1.110 million viewers as per Nielsen Ratings. Pelullo acknowledged that both fighters are HBO fighters but what path they go now is uncertain.
“This performance certainly didn’t help Provodnikov’s stock but HBO loves him. He always brings the action and he’s an HBO fighter. We would certainly want a rematch with Bradley but you don’t have to ask our side about that fight, because we would jump on it in a heartbeat,” explained Pelullo.
As for a possible rematch with Algieri, Pelullo stated, “Certainly if HBO is willing to do it again, we’d listen but both guys might have bigger and better options out there. Bob Arum mentioned the winner of this fight likely getting a Pacquiao fight. Now if you’re Chris, do you get back in the ring with Ruslan and go to war again for 1/3 of the purse you’d get to fight Pacquiao? I think you go with the Pacquiao fight if it’s there because you don’t know how long you have in this hurt business and you got to make the most of it.”
