By Bill "Two Scoops" Emes

Freddie Roach, trainer for Ruslan Provodnikov (23-3, 16KOs), felt there was hometown cooking from the two judges who scored the fight, 114-112, for Chris Algieri (20-0, 8KOs) on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The third judge had it 117-109. Algieri was down twice in the first round and his right eye was swollen shut by the eight round of the contest.

"The two local judges did vote for the local boy, and the one judge had it by a margin of [eight] points [for Ruslan] and HBO had it by nine or ten [for Ruslan], so yeah I am [saying it was a hometown decision]," Roach said.

But, Roach does not regret the team's decision to face Algieri, a big ticket seller in New York, on his home turf. Roach does want a neutral venue if a rematch comes about.

"It was a good offer [to fight in Brooklyn]. I had Miguel Cotto fighting here [in New York] last week. It was a pretty good situation. We were here for two weeks and acclimatized to the East Coast. I think somewhere neutral or maybe we'll do a rematch in Russia," Roach said.

"Winning and losing is part of life. This what makes us a better fighter. This is how we grow. We are going to improve and make it more clearer next time we fight this guy."