Provodnikov: Do Fans Want Me or Algieri vs. Manny?

By Ryan Burton

BoxingScene.com recently spoke to former champion Ruslan Provodnikov and his manager Vadim Kornilov who made it clear that they are still veryinterested in facing Manny Pacquiao in November in Macau. 

Top Rank has made an offer to Star Boxing for Chris Algieri to face Pacquiao. Algieri was able to rally back from hitting the canvas twice to pick up a decision victory over Provodnikov last month.

Team Provodnikov said that they legally have a right to face Algieri in an immediate rematch but that they would like to see Pacquiao face whoever the fans prefer.

Provodnikov made the following statement to BoxingScene.com:

"I know that Algieri will be fighting Manny Paquiao in Macau.  It's almost a done deal and everybody knows it but I have an immediate rematch clause on Algieri and if we really wanted to, we can prevent the fight from happening legally. But I think if the fans want to see the fight between Paquiao and Algieri then it should happen.

"I know that my promotional team has offered Top Rank a very good deal for me to fight Manny, a very fair proposition on options and a good financial deal but we all know that even though the fans want to see Manny fight an opponent that can actually beat him, Manny's team wants to stay away from those types of opponents and keep him in the safe zone.

"I think the fans should influence these types of actions through pay-per-view numbers. They should demand and order only the pay-per view-fights that are actually exciting and possibly legendary."

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