By Jim Maltzman: Former WBA light welterweight champion Regis ‘Rougarou’ Prograis will be battling Ivan Redkach (23-5-1, 18 KOs) in a tune-up level fight on the April 17th pay-per-view card on Triller.
Mike Coppinger is reporting that Prograis (25-1, 21 KOs) will be facing the 34-year-old Redkach on the undercard of Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren card. Also on the card is 52-year-old former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver facing Frank Mir.
Obviously, adding that fight is a move by Triller to attract some of the older boxing fans that remember the ‘Magic Man’ Tarver (31-6-1, 22 KOs) during his glory days between 2003 and 2011.
Prograis, 32, retweeted the news of him fighting Redkach, which makes it clear the fight is happening.
Last Thursday, Triller won the purse bid in New Jersey for the Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos Jr fight. It’s believed that Triller will be adding the contest to the exhibition pay-per-view match between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.
That match-up will need to big artillery that the Teofimo-Kambosos Jr fight will give them. With Teofimo’s skills at marketing his fights, he’ll be able to get a lot of boxing fans to purchase the event on PPV.
Redkach = A good stay-busy fight for Regis
The Ukrainian Redkach gave former two-division world champion Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia an excellent fight a year ago in losing a 12 round unanimous decision in January 2020 in Brooklyn, New York. Although Redkach lost by a wide decision to Danny ‘Swift,’ he gave a good account of himself in making him work hard for the win.
Redkach has only been knocked out twice during his 12-year professional career to John Molina Jr and Dejan Zlaticanin. There’s no shame in losing to fighters of that caliber.
Since his loss to Garcia, Redkach has been inactive, likely due to the pandemic that has slowed the sport to a crawl.
Prograis lost his WBA 140-lb title to IBF light welterweight champion Josh Taylor by a 12 round majority decision in October 2019. Last October, Prograis came back from a year-long layoff to defeat Juan Heraldez by a third-round knockout in San Antonio, Texas. It was an impressive performance by Prograis in destroying an excellent fighter in Heraldez.
In the last week, Prograis has been showing interest in sending Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner into retirement. Those two could eventually fight in 2021 depending on Broner’s management.
“Sources: Former 140-pound champion Regis Prograis is set to fight Ivan Redkach on Triller’s April 17 card featuring Jake Paul-Ben Askren in Atlanta. Along with Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos, bringing Prograis to the platform signals serious interest in the best fighters in boxing,” said @MikeCoppinger.