This blog isn't intended to discuss the fight in detail. I will use the fight to make a point about boxing "fans". I'm getting really tired of seeing the same thing over and over again.
Provodnikov/Algieri went largely over the heads of most boxing fans. While Ruslan Provodnikov has a good following after his punishment of both Timothy Bradley and Mike Alvarado, and given his allegiance with Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao, people see in him the next best thing: a come forward fighter that isn't afraid to give what he gets. He's not a boxer puncher; he's a brawler that just happens to be more refined than someone like Marcos "Chino" Maidana. The problem, and Ruslan himself admitted this after the fight, is that unlike Chino, Ruslan can't deal with someone who's a moving target. He prefers a fighter who stands toe-to-toe with him in the trenches. But given the concussion Bradley got and the straight up mauling that Alvarado received, very few fighters are going to stand and face Ruslan in a straight slug fest. Even if they did, you'd have to get a ref like Steve Smoger who will stand by and let a fighter get his brains knocked out. If Tony Weeks is reffing the fight it'll get stopped. Just ask Alfredo Angulo. Look, even Canelo Alvarez has NO idea why Weeks is stopping the fight.
Algieri came in a long underdog, with betting odds hitting +700 in some areas. It brought back memories of Pacquiao/Bradley 1, where I seemed to be the only person who felt Bradley would beat Pacquiao - and he did (despite what you might think of the actual outcome, it's a win in the books). In Bradley/Provodnikov, Bradley was then the clear favorite, and went on to win a very tough victory, earning a concussion and being out on his feet in the process. But Ruslan earned himself a solid following from that fight. He kept coming forward, took every Bradley had to offer, and threw solid punches that really damaged Bradley. To this day, we don't know how that fight really affected Bradley, but he went on to defeat Juan Manuel Marquez - a man who had come off a Manny Pacquiao KO - handily and without much difficulty.
That history is notable, because I saw clear analogies and signs with how Bradley fought Ruslan vs. how Alvarado did. From the 4th round on, Bradley exposed three weaknesses with Ruslan Provodnikov.
First, Ruslan doesn't move. He says he does this by design: he would rather stay in the hole and punch it out because he feels he's tough enough to take the abuse but give more out. We saw in the Bradley fight that this is true: Bradley simply could not hurt the so-called "Siberian Rocky" despite having a sky high connect rate. Bradley realized this late in the fight and switched to a boxer stance, dancing around and evading the damage but getting points on connected punches. The result: a split decision win. This then confuses the mind as to why Alvarado decided to go in the hole with Ruslan: Alvarado is not a slugger, he's a boxer puncher, but he went down to Ruslan's level and never went back to outboxing Ruslan. The result: he got stopped. So, the key is to do what Ruslan doesn't: MOVE. Move your head (RIP Manny Steward) and stay on the move. Rack up points as you do so, but don't stand still or you'll get tipped.
Second, Ruslan hardly blocks, and when he does, he doesn't do it very well upstairs. He protects his body adequately, but his head is an open target. Unless you're Prince Naseem Hamed, you're not knocking Ruslan out at his weight class. BUT, because his head is an open target, take advantage and rack up points. Bradley took the "W" by racking up points on Ruslan's head.
Third, self admitted, Ruslan is one-dimensional. He doesn't change. He fights the same fight every time against every fighter. That makes him way too predictable. If Floyd Mayweather ever chose to fight Ruslan, it would be a shutout, unanimous decision, even IF Floyd stayed in the hole. Why? Because Floyd already knows what to expect.
So back to the fight. Algieri, though undefeated, was relatively unknown in big fights and for many, was expected to be destroyed by Ruslan. I on the other hand felt that Algieri would get a UD on Ruslan simply because Algieri is by nature a boxer puncher. He doesn't stand toe-to-toe, hasn't in any of the fights I saw, and I didn't see many, to be honest. Algieri has (well, at least before the fight) the look of a GUESS model in some magazine. Pretty boy looks where you just don't expect him to really be serious about boxing. Started training late, in his 20's unlike most that start as children. Very few people acknowledged Algieri getting past Provodnikov, the man who gave Tim Bradley a concussion and viciously stopped Mike Avarado, two world champions in their own right.
First round - Algieri was dropped twice. Like Tim Bradley in their fight, Ruslan threw a scary hook that sent Algieri tumbling to the mat with a stunned look on his face. His right eye started to swell badly, and it was this that caused the fight to change. The second knockdown, Algieri took a knee on purpose - Ruslan hadn't tagged him with anything dangerous, he just took the knee, likely to buy time to get through the round. Unfortunately, taking a knee is just as bad on points as getting knocked down. Algieri had lost this round handily.
For rounds 2 and 3 we saw Algieri getting cut off as he tried to dance around Ruslan, and Ruslan was effective at keeping Algieri from moving too much. Clearly Ruslan knew what style of fighter he was in against. But the thing is Ruslan never did very much additional damage besides some more well-placed hooks to that eye. Algieri never went down again (shades of Rocky 1).
For the remainder of the fight we saw Algieri switch strategy slightly. Instead of constantly going for power punches, he used his greater reach to pump jabs into Ruslan's face to keep him at bay, then circled around and landed a power shot. He would continue this pattern with consistency; Ruslan never once changed or adapted, likely thinking it wouldn't do any good on the scorecards.
When the decision was called - Chris Algieri by split decision - the place erupted. Twitter exploded. And it is this that I want to talk about. Because it taught me that there's three types of boxing "fans":
- People who watch boxing because they've always watched it and continue to do so;
- People who watch boxing as an alternative to UFC;
- People who watch boxing because they have nothing else to do.
It's the second one that bothers me. Instead of praising Chris Algieri for turning the fight around to his favor and winning on points, hundreds/thousands of people swear Ruslan got "robbed" simply because Algieri was knocked down in the first round and had a swollen eye. Same people that felt Pacquiao got "robbed" because Bradley was in a wheelchair by the end of the fight. I'm not going to discuss that second one. My point is, it's not about how the fighter looks, it's about how the fighter performs, and STYLES. MAKE. FIGHTS. Algieri clearly outclassed and outboxed Ruslan, period. The knockdown only counted in the first round, and he dominated since. But people complained about his use of jabs.
The problem with the UFC crowd is that all they want to see is a slugfest and bloodshed. They want to see more Abdusalamov incidents (Magomed Abdusalamov). I credit referee Harvey Dock for not taking the hasty motion of stopping this one as Algieri was never in any real trouble past the first round. I also point out that Algieri was significantly more accurate than Ruslan even with one eye!
But the key here is to hit but not BE hit. It's been the same strategy for fighters for years - it's not to sit there like a slugger, that's what MMA is for. In boxing, in the "sweet science", you're supposed to avoid punishment as much as possible but dish out as much as you can. We need people to stop scoring fights based solely on a fighter staying in the hole and getting himself injured. That's NOT what it's about. We need to stop people criticizing jabs as a viable punch simply because they don't do individual damage - they're not supposed to, they're supposed to set up stronger punches when used effectively, and those that know how to jab properly, win fights.
The fact of the matter is, Ruslan Provodnikov should go to MMA. If all he wants is someone to slug with he'll find it there, easily, just like James Toney. Otherwise, the decision was a good one and Max DeLuca should be investigated for his laughable scorecard.
No comments:
Post a Comment