By Charles Brun: Promoter Eddie Hearn blamed Danielito Zorrilla (17-2, 13 KOs) for his fighter WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis’ poor fight last Saturday night.
Hearn looked like he was seething after the contest, perhaps realizing that he had made a huge mistake in signing the 34-year-old Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) to a multi-fight contract with his company Matchroom Boxing.
If you checked Hearn’s blood pressure after the fight, it would have topped 200. He looked furious, not because of Zorrilla. Hearn’s remarks about Zorrilla were a classic example of displaced anger.
Instead of Hearn directing his rage at the real target, Prograis, for his ineptness, he targeted a different entity, the innocent Zorrilla, who schooled the aging paper champion all night.
Last night, we saw the same fighter that Josh Taylor beat, but worse because the fearless brawling style that Prograis once had has been replaced by a timid, confused fighter with rudimentary skills, trying to box instead of sticking with the style that brought him this far.
What was interesting is how Hearn was talking up the idea of matching Prograis against Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, and Richardson Hitchins after the fight. In other words, Hearn is ready to throw Prograis to the wolves and be done with it.
A nice cash-out fight would be ideal because if Hearn puts Prograis in with the likes of Haney or Ryan Garcia, the bout will make lots of dough.
It’s unclear if Hearn has an escape clause in his contract with Prograis. If so, it would be good to use it after Prograis loses to Haney, Ryan, Hitchins, or Teofimo Lopez next. Hearn won’t want to be stuck with this albatross.
Prograis won the contest by a twelve round split decision, but fans on social media believe that Zorrilla deserved the win because he’d outboxed Regis the entire fight.
The only good moment Prograis had in the contest was when he dropped Zorrilla with a left hand in the third, and that was a case of him catching the challenger while he was backing up.
Zorrilla dropped Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) in the first round, and had him gunshy from that point on, afraid to throw anything for fear of being countered by the powerful Puerto Rican talent at the Smoothie King Center In New Orleans, Louisiana.
Ultimately, the judges had 117-110, 118-109 for Prograis, and 114-113 for Zorrilla.
“It was a poor fight, really. I’m so disappointed with Zorrilla. Like we chose Zorrilla because that’s part of the problem, he’s a big puncher but I just don’t understand where you get an opportunity of a lifetime to become world champion,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV, criticizing Danielito Zorrilla rather than his fighter WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis for his poor performance last Saturday night.
“He [Zorrilla] could have won the fight if he would have actually held his feet,” Hearn continued. “He’s a big puncher. They both felt the
power early in the fight and he just ran from the third round.
“Regis didn’t cut him off well at all. His distance was poor, but I was just really disappointed in Zorrilla. I think we could have had a great fight tonight, and it wasn’t. It was an average fight.
“In good news, I think people are going to be queuing up to fight Regis Prograis because, let’s be honest, no one’s really been mentioning his name apart from Devin Haney. Ryan Garcia might fancy the fight now. Teofimo Lopez might fancy the fight now. Any of the other guys, Tank [Davis], and whoever, and there’s WBC 140-lb title.
“We’ve got Jack Catterall. He fancies the fight. You’ve got Richardson Hitchins. They fancy the fight. I think it’s going to open a lot of fights for him, but an honest assessment. I think it was a poor fight,” said Hearn about Prograis’ win over Zorrilla.
