By Jim Calfa: WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis is still reeling from his off performance last Saturday night in his less than impressive twelve round split decision win over Daanielito Zorrilla on June 17th in New Orleans.
Confidence-wise, Prograis doesn’t look mentally ready for any of the guys on his wishlist for his next fight. All the guys he wants to fight would likely beat him, particularly Teofimo Lopez & Devin Haney.
Some would argue that Prograis is in the same place mentally that Teofimo Lopez was after his fight with Sandor Martin last December. We can only hope that Prograis can figure things out like he did.
Those guys would take full advantage of the flaws in Prograis’ game to dominate him. If you’re Prograis, he should push his promoter Eddie Hearn to match him against the faded Adrien Broner next because he needs someone like that to help his game. In other words, a ‘safe’ opponent for Regis to mentally find himself.
Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) says he needs to improve his game for his next title defense, which he says will come in September, October, or November.
He’s not sure when exactly he’ll fight, but he does want Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, Adrien Broner, or Josh Taylor.
Of those names, Prograis thinks Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) would be the easier one to make because he’s used to fight for Matchroom Boxing and is still on good terms with Eddie Hearn.
Areas Prograis must improve:
- Cutting off the ring
- Defense
- More bravery
- Aggressiveness
- Decisiveness
- Making adjustments
What was troubling in Prograis’ fight with Zorrilla was how timid he was after getting dropped in the first round.
Prograis needs more courage
WBC 140-lb champion Prograis fought like he had no courage and didn’t trust his ability to take Zorrilla’s right-hand power. Whatever bravery Prograis had in that fight left him after the first round.
If this is as good as it gets for the 34-year-old Prograis, you got to feel sorry for Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn for signing him.
When you compare how Arnold Barboza Jr looked against Zorrilla to Prograis, it was like night and day. Barboza Jr wasn’t afraid of standing in front of Zorrilla and throwing combinations, which he did effectively to pound out a ten round unanimous decision last year in July.
Based on how Barbozaa Jr performed against Zorrilla, you have to conclude that he’s a better fighter than Prograis and would beat him if given the opportunity to fight for his belt.
“I would say Devin [Haney], Teo & AB,” said Regis Prograis to Fighthype about the fighters he wants to face next. “I’ve been wanting to fight Adrien Broner. Josh Taylor too. I want to fight him again.
“I’m going to talk to Eddie to see what move it’s going to be. If it’s going to be Devin or Catterall and where it’s going to be at. I think it’s going to be in October or November. We’ll see. Maybe earlier in September,” said Prograis.
It’s pointless for Prograis to fight Haney, Teofimo, Taylor, or Catterall with the way he’s looking right now because he’ll lose to all of them. Hearn needs to put Prograis in against a fringe-level guy with little power to work on the many flaws he showed against Zorrilla.
Someone like Jose Pedraza would be ideal for Prograis because he can’t punch, and he’ll be standing right in front of him the entire fight. Prograis won’t need to cut off the ring or work on his range. Of course, if Prograis doesn’t have the self-confidence to let his hands go, Pedraza will beat him for sure.
Regis wants to think
“I still got to figure some things out. I’ve got to make a lot of adjustments with myself and my camp because I don’t like my performance myself,” Prograis said.
“He got a belt. I want to fight Matias too. He does have a belt, but you talk about names. Matias does have a belt, but he just doesn’t have a name. But I definitely want to fight him because he be talking a lot of bull s**t, and I just fought somebody from Puerto Rico,” said Prograis.
“Teo too. There are so many fights out there. I don’t know who I’m going to get first. Because of the name, and it’s an easy fight to make, too,” said Prograis about Devin Haney.
“Eddie talked to Devin. If it’s an easy fight to be made, why not do that? Adrien Broner, I don’t think that’s an easy fight to be made. Matias, I don’t know if that’s an easy fight to be made. I know Eddie was trying to sign him. I don’t know if it happened or not.
“I think Devin is the easiest fight to be made. Teo, maybe that will be an easy fight to make, or maybe not. Broner is probably not an easy fight to be made. Josh Taylor, I don’t know how easy that is, but Devin, that’s an easy fight. Devin & Catterall, I think those are the two easiest fights.
“I got to get better. I’m going to go to the gym and work on what I need to work on, and in my next fight, I’ll be better for sure.
“I’ll f**k Arnold Barboza up,” said Prograis when told that Barboza said that Prograis needs to stay away from him. “He’s not good. He fought the same dude [Danielito Zorrilla]. He went the distance with him just like I did. The dude ran away from me for twelve rounds, and I still dropped his a**.
“Arnold Barboza talks s**t, but I think it’s different levels over here. If he gets that title, maybe we can unify. We’ll see,” said Prograis.
