Regis Prograis has changed his tune about Jack Catterall after saying he was the best he had ever fought after losing to him by a 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday night in Manchester, England. Prograis (29-3, 24 KOs) now says he made this remark because he was in the UK and wanted to be gracious after being beaten by home fighter, Catterall (30-1, 13 KOs) at the Co -op Live Arena. .
In an interview today, former WBA and WBC welterweight champion Prograis said that Catterall is not the best fighter he has fought, but he is “better than he thought” he was after watching the video before facing him . Prograis says Catterall is “awkward” and hard to hit.
Regis says it was an easy fight for him until his coach told him to start fighting aggressively after the sixth round because he was worried they wouldn’t be able to win a decision against British fighter Catterall because they were in the Kingdom United. As Prograis began to walk Catterall, he injured himself in the ninth round and dropped out twice.
In retrospect, Prograis wished he had continued to box Catterall as he had, but given he was in the UK, he felt he had no choice but to fight aggressively to secure the win.
The program dominated before
“In the beginning, I boxed him and it was easy with my jab. I boxed him all over the ring. The first six rounds, it was easy,” said Regis Prograis Fight Hub TVDiscussing what went wrong in his loss to Jack Catterall on Saturday night.
“Then my coach told me, ‘You need to step up.’ Be a little busier. That’s when I got caught. Once that happened, the fight changed. My coach said to me, ‘We think you are, but we’re here in the UK, and I think you might have to do something else,'” Prograis said.
It would have been interesting to see if Prograis would have had the decision if he had chosen to box Catterall the entire fight instead of becoming reckless and going on the attack. We’ll never know for sure, but Prograis was definitely dominating the fight going into the new round. He had dropped Catterall with a right hand in the fifth round and looked in a strong position to win heading into the ninth.
“That’s when I started walking over and walking toward him, and that’s when he got me,” Prograis said. “I was still good; I didn’t hurt, but then I hurt my ankle really bad. I twisted my ankle and my knee. My coach told me: “You have to knock out”, but that was playing in his hands. That’s what he wanted me to do.
Project: Catterall NOT The “Best I Faced”
When Prograis went on that attack in the second half, Catterall took advantage of it the same way he did in his two fights against Josh Taylor. Catterall is good for fighters who attack but don’t have his body. A good Mexican fighter who can cut off the ring and hit Catterall to the body would have taken him to the ground.
If you go to Catterall, aiming for his head, he does well against that guy. However, with a good chin that throws a lot of punches and can take Catterall down, they will beat him because he doesn’t really have offense.
“They didn’t expect me to throw myself out. Not the best I’ve faced. Let’s put it this way,” said Prograis. “It’s better than I thought. You have arrived in the United Kingdom, and you have a United Kingdom fighter; you have to damn near knock him down. You can’t win a decision. My coach told me, “You have to be more busy.” I thought I might crash. The one-two, he was really good at slipping that. I couldn’t reach him.”
Catterall didn’t look all that impressive in the fight, but Prograis was too limited in terms of his chin, punching combination, stamina and ability to cut the ring to take advantage of his flawed game. There are plenty of fighters at 140, 135, and 147 that would feast on a limited guy like Catterall. Promoter Eddie Hearn did an excellent job of protecting Catterall from those fighters to prevent him from losing.
Haney owns more tools
“He’s a better fighter than I thought he was because he’s very clumsy,” Prograis said. “Nah, I think Devin has more tools,” Prograis said when asked if Catterall is better than Haney. “I could say it was a better fight Saturday night than I was with Devin. Devin’s fight, it wasn’t me.
“For this fight, I was more focused and more present. I can’t say who was better. They have two different styles. I can say that Devin has more tools. Jack doesn’t have a good jab. He doesn’t have a good right hand,” said Prograis.
Haney looked better against Prograis than Catterall. There is no comparison between the two. Haney dominated Prograis throughout the fight, dropping him and winning a wide 12-round unanimous decision last year on December 9 in San Francisco, California. The scores were 120-107, 120-107 and 120-107.
