HBO Boxing After Dark goes to the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn New York on Saturday night for a WBO light welterweight championship main event between champ Ruslan Provodnikov of Siberia and undefeated challenger and New York native Chris Algieri.
Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KOs) is considered one of the most ferocious fighters in boxing, he won the WBO light welterweight title by stopping Mike Alvarado last October. He is trained by the legendary Freddie Roach and is best known for his wars with Timothy Bradley and Mike Alvarado, but also as Manny Pacquiao’s former sparring partner. If he should win and retain his title on Saturday night, he is one of the front runners to land a big fight against the WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. The big problem with this match up is both fighters are trained by Roach and consider each other friends, it could be a conflict of interest but Roach said he would let the fight go forward if both guys want it.
Algieri (19-0, 8 KOs) is a former kickboxer and martial artist from New York, he has fought on ESPN but this will be his first time on the big stage as a headliner in a big Arena. He is not well known but according to boxing trainer Robert Garcia and fighter Brandon Rios he has the technical boxing ability to pull off the upset against Ruslan.
The co-main event starting off the HBO broadcast is a light middleweight bout featuring undefeated Demetrius Andrade (20-0, 13 KOs) of Rhode Island up against Brian Rose (25-1-1, 7 KOs) of the UK. Andrade is one of the promising up and coming fighters to come out of America, with a good amateur pedigree and skill set he is looking to put on an outstanding performance against Rose.
Ruslan Provodnikov vs. Chris Algieri and Demetrius Andrade vs. Brian Rose June 14, 2014 at 10PM ET/PT live on HBO Boxing After Dark.
