Chris Algieri fights through massive swollen eye to beat Ruslan Provodnikov

Chris Algieri was at a disadvantage for most of his fight Saturday against Ruslan Provodnikov after his right eye became so swollen that he was almost unable to see through it, but he still fought well despite the impaired vision and managed to win a split decision.

Algieri won the WBO light welterweight title fight at Barclays Center in a decision that surprised anyone watching on HBO and listening to the commentary of the pro-Provodnikov crowd. The judge who had it in favor of Ruslan scored it overwhelmingly in his favor 117-109, but the other two scored it 114-112 for Algieri.

Algieri’s eye became swollen after he was decked hard in the first round by Provodnikov, who scored two knockdowns that round. I thought Algieri won most of the later rounds of the fight and overall looked better than Provodnikov from the eight round on. He was in super condition and still bouncing around in the 11th and 12th rounds of the fight. However, Provodnikov counterpunched extremely well and popped Aglieri in the face multiple times, which led the eye to swell even more.

“I could actually see out of the eye pretty well until about round 8. And round 12, I was f—ing blind,” Algieri told HBO after the fight.

To think that there was talk about Provodnikov facing Manny Pacquiao next. Ha! So much for that plan.

The last time we saw a right eye damaged that badly was when Antonio Margarito lost to Pac-Man.