By Allan Fox: WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) had a devil of a time beating the faster, more skilled, and surprisingly more powerful Danielito Zorrilla (17-2, 13 KOs) by a 12 round split decision on Saturday night in the main event at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The referee blew a call in the first round when Zorrilla knocked Prograis down with a scorching right hand to the head. That should have been scored as a knockdown.
In round three, the southpaw Prograis caught Zorrilla with a left hand that caught him to hit the deck hard.
The punch caught Zorrilla cleanly, but he was largely unhurt. Thinking he had him, Prograis trapped Zorrilla against the ropes, and the two exchanged shots until the end of the round.
From the fourth round, Zorrilla stayed on the move, neutralizing Prograis’s offense and hitting him with punches as he came forward.
The scores:
- 118-109 – Prograis
- 117-110 – Prograis
- 114-113 – Zorrilla
This writer had Zorrilla edging it 7-5, as he landed the cleaner shots throughout the fight, and did an admirable job of keeping Prograis bottled up on the outside.
After the fight, Prograis admitted that Zorrilla gave him problems, and he apologized to the crowd, who had booed off & on the lack of action from the 8th round.
Prograis should have let his hands go when he would get close, but he looked shaken from the early missed knockdown in the first.
Also, Zorrilla did an excellent job of tying up Prograis when he would get inside. On that end, the referee warned Zorrilla a couple of times for his holding.
Prograis should have been able to fight through the clinches, but he willingly allowed Zorrilla to tie up repeatedly without throwing.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn looked displeased after the fight, as he recently signed Prograis and said that he needed to make a statement.
Well, he didn’t do that tonight. Judging by the lack of enthusiasm that Hearn showed in discussing Prograis’ win after this fight, it appeared that he might have regrets about signing him.
You can make an argument that Zorrilla deserves a rematch after his controversial loss. He did enough to deserve a win, and he made Prograis look limited.
Teofimo Lopez shouldn’t have retired because Prograis is made to order for him. After this performance from Prograis, Teofimo is possibly kicking himself for hanging up his gloves without fighting him.