Chris Algieri survived two early knockdowns, and a completely closed eye to walk out of the Barclays Center on June 14 with a split decision victory over Ruslan Provodnikov, and his WBO light welterweight title. Following the brutal affair, Algieri's got his sights set on the big time-specifically Manny Pacquiao.
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Immediately after defeating Provodnikov, sporting dark black shades to cover his gruesomely swollen right eye, Algieri indicated a willingness to step in the ring with Pacquiao. "It's a good fight. It's a great fight. It would be awesome and stylistically it could be a good matchup because he's a dangerous guy. My style would match up well with his but I don't know what's happening next."
While Ruslan Provodnikov was a difficult and feared fighter, few consider him to be in the class of Manny Pacquiao skill-wise. Pacquiao is also linked to fighters with lengthier resumes than Algieri, including Juan Manuel Marquez. Should Pacman pass on facing Algieri, Danny Garcia is another man in the sights of Provodnikov's promoter Artie Pelullo, who works closely with Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing.
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"For Chris and Danny Garcia to unify titles in that building, with Garcia being from Philly, and Chris being from up here, we would sell 15,000 tickets," Pelullo said.
DeGuardia, however, is pushing hard for Algieri to capitalize on his big win and get a shot at Pacquiao. "Bob said, right from the get-go, that it was going to be a great fight between Algieri and Pacquiao if Algieri beat Provodnikov. Now, after this performance, that's magnified. I think that Chris really showed that he's got the credibility to be where he's supposed to be," DeGuardia said.
"I think that it's a realistic fight. I don't think that it would be that difficult of a fight to make. Bob and I have done a lot of business. I think that Bob hit it right on the head, and that's that this was going to be that type of a fight."
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