Eddie Hearn sees a more spiteful-looking Regis Prograis going into his fight main event fight against the highly ranked light welterweight contender Jack Catterall this Saturday night on October 16th at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Hearn feels that the former two-time 140-lb champion Prograis (29-2, 24 KOs) was missing that spiteful look in his two previous fights against Devin Haney and Danielito Zorrilla. He’s glad that he’s showing it ahead of his 12-round headliner against #2 WBC, #2 WBO, and #3 IBF Catterall (29-1, 13 KOs).
Prograis Can Ruin Catterall’s World Title Hopes
It’s unclear how pleased Hearn will be if Prograis wins this fight because there would be less interest from UK fans in seeing him challenge the winner of the December 7th fight between IBF 140-lb champion Liam Paro and Richardson Hitchins than there would be if Catterall is the one that challenges for that belt.
Hearn didn’t come right out and say it, but the way his face lit up when discussing Catterall potentially challenging the Paro-Hitchins winner, there’s no doubt that’s the fight that he wants. He’s not thinking about the 35-year-old Prograis being the one to face the winner.
“A little bit of mind games and a little bit of war of words. I see something a little bit different about Regis Prograis in this fight,” they said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing, talking about the Jack Catterall vs. Regis Prograis clash this Saturday night in Manchester.
Catterall has a nightmarish, highly mobile style that reminds some of American Shakur Stevenson, and he’s not fun to watch at all. The movement and chronic clinching that Catterall uses to win his fights make him an acquired taste. Fans have to like watching fighters that move and hold to enjoy Catterall’s fights.
Prograis has got the power to bring Catterall to earth on Saturday night, but he’s going to have to land something big to do that. Catterall is almost impossible to hit when he’s on the move because he’s never stationary long enough for him to be hit cleanly. For Prograis to hit him with a knockout blow, he’ll need to do it while he’s holding. That shouldn’t be too hard because he clinches constantly.
Has Prograis Found His Hunger?
“I think he was quite honest in his assessment where he said, ‘I won a world title.’ I think he lost a little bit of his hunger in his defense against Zorrilla, which we did in New Orleans and then the Haney fight,” said Hearn.
Why Haney beat Prograis:
- Size advantage: Rehydrating to 165. The WBC doesn’t have a 10-lb rehydration rule to prevent fighters from putting on tremendous weight after weighing in.
- Holding: Devin used a lot of holding to shut down Prograis’ offense. If Regis had known how to fight through a clinch or if he had shoved Haney away when he’d attempted to hold, he would have prevented him from using this tactic.
- Movement: Devin used a lot of movement in the fight, making it difficult for Prograis to get to him to land punches.
“I’ve always thought that Regis was quite a spiteful character. I didn’t really see it in those fights. He needs to show that in this fight as well,” said Hearn.
What Hearn fails to say is that Haney used a lot of movement and holding against Prograis last December. The clinching and running that the huge 165-pound Haney used in the fight factored into his winning. Haney’s rehydrated weight also helped him achieve victory.
Prograis shouldn’t have had to fight a super middleweight. The WBC needs to implement a 10-lb rehydration limit to keep fighters from rehydrating massive amounts of weight to use it as an advantage.
“To me, Jack [Catterall] is like an uncrowned world champion. I think he deserves another shot at a world championship. I’ve got to admire him for taking this one because we have so many fighters at 140 pounds. We’ve got the winner of Paro against Hitchins to fight whatever 140-pounder we want,” said Hearn.
Catterall lost to former undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor in their first fight two years ago by a 12-round split decision on February 26th in Glasgow, Scotland. Many fans, Hearn included, thought Catterall deserved the victory. However, two of the judges gave Taylor the win, and it’s understandable why. He was pushing the fight, landing the harder shots, and being the aggressor against the defensive-minded Catterall.
The judges saw how Taylor was the one on the attack, and they felt that was reason enough to give him the victory. Taylor’s superior power and pressure were why he won. Fans who felt that Catterall deserved the win were basing their views on his amateur style of landing lighter, point-scoring shots and ignoring Taylor’s pro style.
“Jack could have had a warmup fight, and I would have given him that fight. But he said, ‘No, give me Regis Prograis, and I love that. Because if you win this fight, then you’re a stone-cold certainty for a world championship fight. Your stock has risen. We can do the Paro fight in Manchester. We can do it in Brisbane. We can do it in New York,” said Hearn.
Who is Hearn trying to kid? Prograis is a warmup fight for Catterall, and if he picked himself, it only shows that he wasn’t willing to take a risk against one of the talented contenders like Gary Antuanne Russell, Elvis Rodriguez, or Alfredo Santiago.
Those would be tough outs for Catterall. If Prograis can regain a bit of his best form from earlier in his career, he’ll knock out Catterall and ruin Hearn’s plans of matching him against the winner of Liam Paro vs. Richardson Hitchins fight.
“I’m fed up in boxing of where you get beat, ‘It’s a bad style for you’ or ‘You shouldn’t have taken that fight.’ Do you want great fights with drama, or do you want to be steered in the right direction?” said Hearn.
Fans have given up on Prograis not just because of his recent loss to Devin Haney on December 9th; they also think he looked equally poor in his previous fight against Danielito Zorrilla last June 17th in New Orleans. Those two fights have formed the view that the 35-year-old Prograis is washed up.
