Shakur Stevenson praised Jack Catterall for his “Hit and don’t get hit” style he used to defeat former WBA and WBC welterweight champion Regis Prograis on Saturday night in Manchester, England.
Catterall (30-1, 13 KOs), who was named the “British Shakur” for the amount of running he does and having a boring fighting style, he used the big ring last night to get away from the heavyweight Prograis (29-3, 24 KO) won a 12-round unanimous decision at the Co- on Live. Arena.
Unsurprisingly, Shakur praised Catterall after his performance because he is a copy of him, albeit one Dollar Tree version and not as elusive as the real Newark model. However, Catterall’s style is similar enough to Shakur to make him almost as boring to the fans, who were very critical of how he did the fight because of his running.
Some fighters at 140 and 135 would have beaten Catterall without any problem on Saturday night, but those guys were not chosen by promoter Eddie Hearn.
Catterall is the type of fighter who needs to be matched carefully to avoid losing. If he is put in with someone who knows how to cut the ring, chase a runner, and aim for the body, he will lose. Prograis had none of these things going for him, which is why he was chosen for Catterall.
Prograis felt he could have won
“I know if I had just one clean shot at him (I would have knocked him out),” Regis Prograis told Boxing news about whether he felt he could have beaten Jack Catterall if he had connected with a big shot on Saturday night.
Prograis has beaten Catterall once in the fight, but lacks the combination of punching and foot speed to chase him down when he gets on the run. It seemed that Prograis had no training on how to cut the ring or deal with a runner like Catterall. He should have been more prepared than he showed last night for a Class A rider like Catterall.
“I hurt him a lot of times. I know I hurt him a lot of times, and it was like that. But he had a game plan, and he was moving around the ring,” Prograis continued, talking about Catterall. “I saw how big the ring was when I went to the ring. So, I realized, ‘Okay, that’s what they’re going to do. They’re going to try to move,’ but I was prepared for that.”
Regis was not prepared
Prograis should have known better than to agree to fight Catterall in England. Going into enemy territory, it was only obvious that he would be installed to favor his combat; therefore, the big ring for the runner moves throughout the night and plays to keep the distance for 12 boring rounds. He would have won if Prograis could cut the ring and hunt the night.
He got into trouble because he was so tentative with his attacks. He waited too long instead of jumping on Catterall from the first turn and chasing him for three minutes without letting go. Even though Prograis was an older fighter, he still could have won if he had stayed the whole fight and minded him with truncheons when he would have won. He should study Artur Beterbiev’s fighting style for this matchup to learn how to deal with a runner.
“Just get up and show them that I wasn’t hurt. That was the main thing, but then I rolled my ankle and my knee. I don’t know if it was when I fell or when we both fell together,” Prograis said when asked what was going through his mind after he fell in the ninth round.
“When we both fell together, I rolled my knee, but I know that one of these times, I broke my knee and my ankle. I just don’t know when. I know it was definitely the next rounds, but I’m not alone when it was,” said Prograis.
This fight was a lost cause for Prograis long before he suffered a knee or ankle injury. He looked shell-shocked after being dropped x 2 in the 9th round, resulting in his already low work rate dropping to nothing. Also, Catterall used even more movement in turns 10 to 12 to make sure Prograis didn’t clip him with anything if he had any ideas.
Again, a fighter capable of cutting the ring would have crushed Catterall because he showed he could be taken down when he retired. Catterall’s offense was non-existent when he was running. He could not throw on the escape and was caught with some stupid by the slow Prograis when he was chased.
“I think he’s a lot better than people think he is,” Prograis said of Catterall. “He has an awkward style. He has a sneaky power. He doesn’t have a great power, but he has a sublime power to where he will hurt, no matter what.”
Catteroll is hard to beat, not very fast not super strong but he knows how to hit not hit.. respect!!
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) October 26, 2024
