Robbery In Brooklyn: Judges Rob Provodnikov Of Well Earned Victory Against Chris Algieri

Ruslan Provodnikov (23-3, 16 KO’s) lost an extremely controversial split decision to hometown boy, Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KO’s) on Saturday night (June 14, 2014) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.  Despite scoring two knockdowns in the first round and shutting Algieri’s right eye completely, the judges at ringside scored the bout 114-112 for Algieri on two scorecards and 117-109 for Provodnikov.

HBO boxing usually does a great job of scoring fights unofficially and they had it 117-110 for the “Siberian Rocky.”  Although Long Island’s Algieri showed tremendous heart by never giving up and constantly throwing the jab out there, Ruslan clearly landed the harder shots and we even saw him landing more shots.

The Compubox numbers, ridiculously, showed Algieri landing more shots, but anyone watching the fight could see that Provodnikov was the busier fighter, controlled the pace of the fight, and clearly won the fight.

How could judging be this bad in a sport that’s already notorious for bad calls very often? Would judges have scored the fight the same way had the fight taken place in Provodnikov’s hometown?  What if judges were former champions like Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Oscar De La Hoya, Roy Jones Jr, and George Foreman? Would they have scored it the same way?

Trending fighters: Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Bernard Hopkins, Canelo Alvarez, Felix “Tito” Trinidad, Joe Calzaghe, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Amir Khan