By Tim Royner: Regis Prograis has moved from Houston, Texas to Los Angeles, California, presumably to get better sparring for him to prepare for his WBSS light welterweight tournament final against Josh Taylor later this years. This is the second recent move for WBA 140-pound champion Prograis (24-0, 20 KOs). He moved from New Orleans to Houston, Texas a couple of years ago, and now he’s moved to Los Angeles.
In addition to great sparring that will be available to him, being in Los Angeles could help Prograis attain more fame, as he’s in a popular place where there are tons of media. If Prograis, 30, wins the World Boxing Super Series tournament in 2019 like many believe he will, he’ll be in position to see his career take off. It’s scary to imagine Prograis getting better than he is already with better sparring.
I’m officially a resident of Los Angeles 🙌🏽👏🏽😎
— Rougarou (@RPrograis) May 21, 2019
The boxing public are split in who they feel will win the Prograis vs. Taylor fight. Prograis is the #1 seed in the WBSS 140-pound tournament, and he’s looked very good in his recent wins over Kiryl Relikh and Terry Flanagan in the tournament. Taylor has looked just as good in beating Ivan Baranchyk and Ryan Martin. Taylor had it a little easier than Prograis, however, because his first opponent of the WBSS tournament, Ryan Martin, looked like he didn’t belong in the same ring with him last November. Martin threw very punches, and mostly looked afraid.
Taylor stopped Martin in the seventh round. In contrast, Prograis was matched against the highly skilled former WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan in his quarterfinal fight in the WBSS tournament last October. Prograis beat Flanagan by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 117-110, 118-109 and 119-108. It was a more competitive fight than the Taylor vs. Martin fight. Flanagan was a much better fighter than Martin. The WBSS tournament organizers need to make sure that the fighters have enough experience to be competing in their tournaments, because Martin looked like he was too green to be fighting at this level against a guy like Taylor, who comes from a great amateur background.
Prograis feels that he should be on Ring Magazine pound-for-pound list following his knockout victory over WBA light welterweight champion Kiryl Relikh (23-3, 19 KOs) last month on April 27 in the semi-final of the WBSS tournament in Lafayette, Louisiana. Prograis thinks he’s done enough in his career to be among the top 10 of Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound list. If Prograis beats Josh Taylor (15-0, 12 KOs) in the final of the WBSS 140-pound tournament, he could get his wish and be added to the list.
Taylor, 28, beat IBF light welterweight champion Ivan Baranchyk (19-1, 12 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night on May 18 to earn a spot in the final of the WBSS tournament to face Prograis. Taylor did a good job of beating the powerful Baranchyk. He knocked the Belorussian down twice in the sixth round, and then cruised to a victory by the scores 115-111, 117-109 and 115-111.