By Charles Brun: A month after being embarrassed by Dereck Chisora during the kickoff press conference for the October 26th card, Regis Prograis is still unhappy with the way it went down. WBA light welterweight champion Prograis (24-0, 20 KOs) says he felt that British heavyweight Chisora (31-9, 22 KOs) disrespected him, and he didn’t like that no one else on the stage backed him up when he talked back to Dereck.
Prograis says if Chisora goes off on another rant at the next news conference, he may say something to him.
Prograis says he didn’t know much about the 35-year-old former heavyweight world title challenger Chisora at the time, and that’s why he didn’t talk back more. It was only later that Prograis discovered that Chisora has 9 losses on his record, and he’s NEVER been a world champion. Prograis said if he knew what he knows now about Chisora, he probably would have mentioned those things to him when he melted down during the initial press conference.
Chisora was unhappy with Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn for him being put in the co-feature on the undercard of light welterweight unification match between Prograis and IBF champion Josh Taylor (15-0, 12 KOs).
At the time, Chisora was supposed to be fighting for WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, which was a match that a lot of boxing fans were excited about seeing. However, Parker pulled out of the card recently, complaining about being bitten by a spider. He’s now been replaced by domestic level heavyweight David Price (25-6, 20 KOs), who doesn’t figure to have much of a shot at beating Chisora.
Prograis and Taylor will be meeting on October 26 in a 140-lb unification match in the final of the World Boxing Super Series tournament at the O2 Arena in London, England. The winner of the Prograis-Taylor fight will be given the Muhammad Ali Trophy, as well as the Ring Magazine light welterweight title. They’ll be recognized as the #1 fighter in the 140-pound weight division.
Prograis: Chisora was never a world champion
“I felt like I was the only one that responded and actually said something,” said Prograis about Chisora going into a rant during the kickoff press conference. “Going into that, I didn’t know nothing about Chisora. Now if I knew something. I’m not someone that is going to put my foot in my mouth, and say something ignorant. Basically, ignorant is saying something you don’t know about.
“The only thing I knew about was what he’s not #1, and that’s why I said. He said, ‘Why am I not the main event?’ I said, ‘we’re #1 and #2 in the world, world champions.’ I knew he wasn’t a world champion now, but I never knew that he never won a belt before, and he’s never been a world champion, and he lost like nine times.
“If I knew that at the time, I would have said that. I definitely would have said that. I didn’t bring it up because I didn’t know about it, and I’m not going to say something ignorant. I couldn’t say, ‘You not a world champion, and you’ve never been a world champion, because I didn’t know if he was a world champion or not, so I couldn’t say that,” said Prograis.
What Prograis doesn’t understand is the difference between the U.S and the UK in terms of the support fans give to their fighters. In the U.S, if a fighter has nine losses on their record, they’re viewed as a journeyman level guy. They generally don’t fight in main events unless they’re facing a world champion. In the UK, it’s different.
Chisora fights on pay-per-view in that country, and boxing fans are willing to watch him despite the fact that he’s never won a world title, and likely never will. The fans don’t care that Chisora has failed repeatedly to win fights when put in with good opposition. They don’t care that most of the guys that Chisora beats nowadays are fringe level fighters like 38-year-old Carlos Takam, Artur Szpilka and Senad Gashi.
Chisora’s verbal exchange with Prograis
Dereck: “The Muhammad Ali trophy, no one gives a f— about it no more. Nobody gives a f— about little guys anymore. They only give a f— about the heavyweight game
Regis Prograis: “We [Josh Taylor] number #1 and #2”
Chisora: “Nobody cares about you, bro.
Prograis: “We’re number one and number .”
Chisora: “Don’t get me started, bro, or I’ll squash you. I don’t give a s—.
It’s unclear what Chisora was implying when he told Prograis, “I’ll squash you.” Was that a threat that Chisora was making?
Chisora’s history of acting out makes Prograis glad he didn’t talk back to him
“Now I seen that he throws tables, and maybe it’s lucky that I didn’t know about that, because we would have been throwing tables and chairs at each other,” said Prograis about Chisora. “I was definitely kind of pissed off when he said that, and I was wondering why no one was saying nothing.
I guess everybody knew how he was, and that he throws tables, and he goes crazy at press conferences and stuff. But whatever. I respect him for standing up to the promoter and wanting more money, and demanding more money.
“Of course, you’re supposed to do that. You’re a prizefighter, and you’re fighting for a prize. Get your money, and get all the money you can,” said Prograis.
It’s a good thing that Prograis didn’t launch into Chisora, and start pointing out his lack of accomplishments during his career, because things could have gotten out of hand. David Haye was right besides Chisora, but you just never know.
Prograis sends message to Chisora: “Don’t disrespect us”
“But don’t disrespect us,” said Prograis. “We’re fighters just like you are. You were NEVER a world champion. We’re undefeated world champions in our prime fighting for all these things [IBF, WBA, Ring title and Muhammad Ali Trophy]. We’re fighters just like you are. If you could have said all that same stuff [to your promoter] except about us, me and Josh Taylor.
“It was kind of disrespectful, but it is. If he goes off again, maybe I’ll say something, maybe I won’t, but whatever. We’ll see when it happens,” said Prograis about Chisora.
