Regis Prograis wants Mikey Garcia after Maurice Hooker

By Boxing News - 03/03/2020 - Comments

By Aragon Garcia: Regis Prograis would like to face Mikey Garcia after he deals with Maurice Hooker next month in their fight on April 17. Prograis liked what he saw from Mikey with his 12 round decision win over Jessie Vargas last Saturday night. Garcia (40-1, 30 KOs) showed a lot of power and poise in dropping former welterweight champ Vargas (29-3-2, 11 KOs) in winning a 12 round decision.

It won’t be easy for Prograis to get a fight against Mikey, as he’s got several fighters that he’s interested in facing. At Mikey’s post-fight news conference last Saturday, he rattled off the following guys he wants to face:

  • Manny Pacquiao
  • Errol Spence Jr. – a rematch
  • Terence Crawford

Devin Haney also has called Mikey out, and that’s a potential fight for him in the future. It’s a fight that makes sense for Mikey when Haney becomes more popular and beaten some of the name guys at 135 and 140.

Prograis (24-1, 20 KOs) was one of the fighters that was offered to Mikey for his fight on February 29, but he chose Vargas to fight. Mikey wanted someone that fights at welterweight so that he could show the boxing world that he’s a legitimate contender at 147. More importantly, Mikey wanted to show that he deserves to share the ring with WBA welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao.

On April 17, Prograis vs, Hooker (27-1-3, 18 KOs) will be streamed on DAZN from the MGM National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

Prograis targeting Mikey Garcia 

“Hopefully after this, we can get Mikey,” said Prograis to Fighthype. “Mikey is a dog. The first thing I knew, Mikey has a chin,” said Prograis. “I knew that after he fought Errol [Spence].

“Errol is the biggest and strongest at 147, in my opinion. He [Mikey] went 12 rounds with Errol, so I knew at that time that Mikey can take a punch. He’s short, he’s stocky and he’s strong.

The first four rounds, Jessie won hands down. He was winning. Jessie, he’s not the biggest, but he was hitting him with some clean shots. Mikey took it. I saw that Mikey was coming on. He kept pressing. He broke Jessie down. It’s still credit to Jessie, he went 12 rounds.

“That shot that dropped him in the corner, he f— Jessie up with that shot. He dropped him as hard as s— He got up smiling from that. I take my hat off to him because he was tough. Mikey is tough and strong, you can tell,” said Prograis.

Regis needs to stay focused on his fight with the dangerous former WBO 140-lb champion Hooker because it’s not a sure thing he wins that. Although Hooker lost his last fight to WBC light-welterweight champion Jose Ramirez last July, he’s still a talented fighter with power and skills. Hooker is a threat to Prograis.