Regis Prograis wants Josh Taylor rematch; “I don’t think I lost”

By Boxing News - 11/18/2019 - Comments

By Tim Royner: Regis Prograis wants to get a quick world title shot after losing a close 12 round majority decision to IBF light welterweight champion Josh Taylor on October 26 at the O2 in London. Prograis wants the rematch with Taylor, because he believes he didn’t lose that fight. He lost on the judges’ cards, but he firmly believes he deserved the win.

Prograis (24-1, 20 KOs) lost his WBA 140-lb title in the defeat to the Scottish fighter in a match that was a real barner. Given the location of the fight, Prograis needed to make it more conclusive for him to get the nod on the judges’ scorecards.

Regis wants Taylor or Ramirez

“I’m hoping they’ll tell me some news about my next fight,” said Prograis to K.O Artist Sports about his next match. “I’ve been saying I don’t feel like I lost the fight [with Taylor].

“Not only in boxing wise, but even the reception after the fight, everyone has been telling me what a good job I did. It was a historical fight, and it was really good. Hopefully, we get the rematch.

“I’m a fan of boxing. That being said, I still want to see him and [Jose] Ramirez fight, if they can fight. I’ll fight the winner of those two. If they can’t get it done, we’ll go after the Taylor rematch or we’ll go after Ramirez.

“I got so many options on the table. I dont even know what’s next. And I got a lot of options, and a lot of money waiting for me right now. I’m chilling right now, and then I’m going to see what’s up,” said Prograis.

Prograis won’t be getting shot soon

Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs) isn’t likely to give Prograis a a rematch anytime soon though. Josh is expected to defend against Lewis Ritson next in a domestic level clash for the UK boxing fans. After that, there’s a possible unification fight between Taylor and WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Jose Ramirez in the second half of 2020.

The best option for Prograis to get a quick title shot at 140 is to take on WBA ‘regular’ champion Mario Barrios (25-0, 16 KOs). It might be easier said than done for Prograis to get a title shot in a speedy fashion against Barrios.

Prograis isn’t in the position to force Barrios to fight him. The only way that match takes place is if Barrios’ promoters like the idea of matching him against the 30-year-old Prograis. For them to do that, they would need to believe that he can win.

Moving up to 147 is better option for Prograis

It might be better for Prograis to move up to 147 to go after one of the world champions in that weight class. If Prograis is looking at 2 or more years before he gets another title shot at 140, he’s better off putting that time in at welterweight. There’s a bigger payoff for Prograis at 147 than at 140. Given how tough that fight was for Taylor, he’s not going to want a second helping of the punishment that Prograis dished out.

Prograis fought valiantly against Taylor but came up short on the scorecard by the scores 117-112, 115-113 and 114-114. In lookin at what went wrong for Prograis, he made the mistake of fighting Taylor on the inside most of the fight.

That didn’t workout well for Prograis, because he didn’t have the inside game to out-slug him. Nevertheless, Prograis’ heavy shots closed Taylor’s right eye, and that caused him to get on his bike in the championship rounds.

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That’s when Pograis dominated him from te outside.In hindsight, Prograis should have kept it long against Taylor, and stayed away from fighting him at close range. That was obviously a mistake by Prograis’ trainer by not having him make the needed adjustments after the first three rounds. Prograis thought he could eventually break Taylor down on the inside, and it never worked.