Josh Taylor defeats Regis Prograis – live results

By Boxing News - 10/26/2019 - Comments

By Mark Eisner: IBF light welterweight champion Josh Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs) outworked WBA champion Regis Prograis (24-1, 20 KOs) in defeating him by an exciting 12 round majority decision to capture the Muhammad Ali Trophy in winning the World Boxing Super Series tournament on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, UK.

The scores were 115-113, 117-112 and 114-114. Boxing News 24 scored it 117-112 for Taylor.

Prograis wasn’t busy enough, and was getting hit with a lot of heavy shots from the bigger, stronger Taylor. In rounds 11 and 12, Prograis rallied but it wasn’t enough. Taylor’s right eye was badly swollen, and almost closed in the 12th. Prograis landed some hard shots in the final round, but he wasn’t able to knock him out.

“What a fight, all respect to Regis, he’s a great champion and was very strong,” said Taylor. “I wish him a ll the best going on. I knew I could get to him. I don’t think he expected me to be able to switch it up so easily. Jose Ramirez, where you at? Let’s do it!”

Prograis said he’s hopeful for a rematch with Taylor at some point in the future. He’s obviously going to need to rebuild before he looks to fight Taylor again. If Prograis fights Taylor again, he likely lose because he needs to figure out how to beat this guy. The way Progais fought tonight, he was outworked and out-punched throughout the contest.

“It was a close fight, the better man won tonight so it’s cool,” said Prograis. “I thought it was pretty even until the last three rounds, thank y’all England, I’ll be back. I enjoyed that, I’m sure he did too. Hopefully, we do a part two.”

Chisora beats David Price

Former heavyweight world title challenger Dereck Chisora (32-9, 23 KOs) stopped David Price (25-7, 20 KOs) in the 4th round in the co-feature bout.

Chisora, 35, dropped Price in the 4th round with a short right hand to the side of the head while the two were in close. After the 36-year-old Price got back to his feet, his corner threw in the towel. It’s unclear why his corner threw in the towel.

In the last seconds of round three, Chisora had Price hurt and close to being knocked out. The bell sounded before Chisora could finish him. Earlier in the round, the 6’8″ Price landed some huge shots. Chisora woke up after that, and retaliated by hurting Price with some big shots while he was against the ropes.

Chisora wants Parker fight

After the fight, Chisora said he’s interested in rescheduling a fight against former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, who had pulled out of tonight’s fight two weeks ago. Chisora’s manager David Haye expressed interest in matching him against Oleksandr Usyk, who is the WBO mandatory. If Chisora beats Usyk, he would be get a title shot. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said before the fight tonight that he wanted to put the winner in with Usyk. That would be a far better fight for Chisora than facing Parker, who has failed repeatedly when stepping it up against Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.

All in all, Chisora didn’t look that great. His performance wasn’t at the level where you would pick him against the elite heavyweights. Had this been Andy Ruiz Jr., Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder or Oleksandr Usyk, Chisora might have lost. He’s not in their league. Chisora is a good gatekeeper level heavyweight, but he’s not talented enough to beat the best.

“My 40th fight, I’m an old boy. I came to seek and destroy. If I catch him, he’s gone,” said Chisora. “He buzzed me. Caught me with a beautiful uppercut. If we can get Joseph Parker asap, I’m ready to go. I hope he doesn’t get another spider bite.”

Price has got to be feeling down right now. He came into the contest tonight with a three-fight winning streak, and hope for a big payday if he won. Unfortunately for Price, his chin betrayed him again, and now his career situation is looking bleak. Price can still get paydays against domestic level fighters, but it won’t be for the money that he would have gotten had he beaten Chisora tonight.

Whether Price has enough socked away from his 10-year pro career to retire now is unknown. If not, then it’s likely that Price will continue fighting. He still has a following in the UK, and he’s capable of winning when matched against the right opposition. Chisora was a bridge too far for Price. There’s no shame in Price losing tonight. Had Chisora fought one of the top heavyweights tonight, he would be the one that lost.

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Lee Selby edges Ricky Burns

Former IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby (28-2, 9 KOs) won a controversial 12 round majority decision over former three division world champion Ricky Burns (43-8-1, 16 KOs).Β  The scores were 116-112, 116-113 for Selby and 115-115. Boxing News 24 scored it for Burns 8 rounds to 4. The scoring was woefully bad by the judges.

The crowd at ringside wasn’t pleased with the decision. They no doubt weren’t enthralled with nonstop holding, moving and throwing of rabbit punches by Selby. There was also punches after the bell from Selby on a couple of occasions.

With the excessive clinching and rabbit punches from Selby, he should have lost points. The referee was there in body only tonight, and did zero to address the spoiling and fouling from Selby.

Lee Selby to stay at lightweight

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Selby said after the fight that he intends on staying at lightweight despite his weak showing. He wants to fight for a world title, but he doesn’t look like he matches up well with any of the champions in the division. WBC champion Devin Haney and WBA/WBC [F]/WBO champ Vasiliy Lomachenko would be bad news for a weak puncher like Selby.

It doesn’t how much clinching and moving Selby does against those guys, his chances of beating either of them almost nonexistent. Selby would be better off moving down to super featherweight. Unfortunately, that would be a bad division for Selby as well, because he would likely be over-matched against champions Miguel Berchelt, Tevin Farmer, Jamel Herring and Andrew Cancio. Selby’s best bet would be to try and get back down to featherweight, because he doesn’t match-up well with any of the champions at 130 or 135.

“We’re both warriors. I thought I had done enough,” said Selby. “I feel more comfortable in the lightweight division. The dream is to be Wales’ first two-weight world champion.”

Lawrence Okolie beats Yves Ngabu

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In an impressive performance, Lawrence Okolie (14-0, 11 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten EBU cruiserweight champion Yves Ngabu (20-1, 14 KOs) by a 7th round knockout. The stork-like 6’5″ Okolie hurt Ngabu with a hard right hand that staggered him.

Okolie than nailed Ngabu with another right hand that sent him staggering to the ropes. The referee then stepped in and stopped the contest. It was kind of a premature stoppage, but Ngabu looked too hurt to defend himself.

Overall, it was an ugly performance by Okolie due to all the nonstop holding he was doing. The referee let Okolie get away with a lot of holding without taking points off.

After the fight, Okolie said that he wants to fight for a world title. It’s unclear who he Okolie will fight for the title. He doesn’t look ready for WBO cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis or IBF champ Yuniel Dorticos. Those guys are too high quality for Okolie to fight.

If Okolie isn’t allowed to clinch those guys nonstop, he might get knocked out. With a quality referee working, Okolie would be forced to defend with his gloves and arms tying up his opponents repeatedly.

“It was hard because he was short and stocky but I heard him getting more and more tired,” said Okolie about Ngabu.Β  “If I hit any cruiserweight on the chin, they’re going to go. Absolutely [ready for a world title fight].”

Conor Benn stops Steve Jamoye

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Unbeaten welterweight prospect Conor Benn (16-0, 11 KOs) defeated journeyman Steve Jamoye (26-8-2, 5 KOs) by a 4th round knockout. In the 4th, the hard hitting 23-year-old Benn nailed Belgian fighter Jamoye with a huge right hand that hurt him. The referee then stepped in and stopped the contest.

It was a good win for Benn, as he’s showing a lot of improvement now from the way he looked two years ago. In 2017, Benn was almost beaten by Cedrick Peynaud, and a lot of boxing fans didn’t see a future for him after that performance.

In Benn’s last five fights, he’s improved dramatically, and looks like a decent domestic level welterweight. He’s still a million light years away from being good enough to be matched against a world class welterweight. If Benn continues to make progress with his career, he might someday become a good contender level fighter.

Other Results:

Derek Chisora W TKO 4 David Price
Lee Selby W 12 Ricky Burns
Lawrence Okolie W TKO 7 Yves Ngabu
Conor Benn KO 4 Steve Jamoye
Denis Radovan W TKO 4 Luke Blackledge
Abass Baraou W TKO 6 John O’donnell
Austin Williams W 4 Miroslav Juna
Shannon Courtenay W 4 Melinda Habran