Knowing the history of how dishonest older fighters can be with themselves. It’s natural to wonder what will happen to former two-time 140-pound world champion Regis Prograis as he eyes action overseas against younger, higher-ranked opponents.
Will Saturday’s match against England’s Jack Catterall in Manchester be Prograis’ last? Or is it a good opportunity for the 35-year-old to rehabilitate himself after losing his fight to Devin? Haney last year?
This is why crowds arrive at Co-op Live Arena, why viewers tune in to DAZN and why Prograis, 29-2 (24 KO), rejects assumptions that the nadir of his career has arrived.
“Yes, you always have to ask yourself. ‘Can I still do this?’ I know I can. (Lower age) was not a factor at all,” Prograis told BoxingScene/ProBox TV on Monday.
“I can still do all the work. I’m still early My reflexes are still strong. I just want to get out there and show people that I still have it. I feel better than I did when I was 27. I can still take the punches. My body is still durable. I have speed I have everything
“We can talk all day. I just want to show people Saturday night for me was about showing that I can erase the doubt in anyone’s mind. By telling them ‘Don’t doubt me again’”
If Prograis’s self-defense words seem overblown, it’s because his final fight was undercooked.
He set a CompuBox record in the worst way by landing just 36 punches in 12 rounds as Devin Haney defended his WBC 140-pound belt on December 9, scoring a third-round knockdown en route to a sweep at Clean (120-107) on all three judges’ scorecards in Haney’s hometown of San Francisco.
That fight seems like a long time ago considering everything that happened in Haney’s no-contest bout with Ryan Garcia in April.
And Prograis feels similarly that he is a new person since adding a new trainer to his team, Kay Koroma, after feeling he was overtrained under Bobby Benton and Julian Chua while at Haney Camp.
“The fight with Haney is something to think about,” Progress said. “I’ve got a lot of distractions going on in camp. I practiced too long Everything that could be bad is bad.
“It was also a big war of nerves. Because we are the ones who say it all. That’s what I do. I enjoyed talking all that with Bill (Haney), Haney’s father, manager and trainer. Instead of thinking about fighting My coach did the same. And they get into our heads about talking. Mentally I was beaten.
“And yes (Haney) has a good style, but I think Jack’s style. Catterall made it for me.”
Catterall, 31, is coming off his most important victory on May 25 with a unanimous decision over former undisputed 140-pound champion Josh Taylor, two years after many more. People believe that Catterall, 29-1 (13 KO), took Taylor’s belt in the dispute. A split decision victory for the Scot, who had previously defeated Prograis by majority decision in a group match in October 2019 at the O2 Arena.
Now Prograis is back overseas and embracing the “me against the world” mentality once again in a race taking place 25 miles from Catterall’s hometown of Chorley.
“I have my doubts about (Catterall’s) resume because he’s not at my level. We had two identical opponents: Josh Taylor and Tyrone McKenna, who I stopped six rounds and he went the distance with Tyrone pushing him,” Prograis said. “(Taylor) his best win, if you take away Josh Taylor is off my resume. I’m still a two-time champion. If you take him away, where does[Catherol]go?
“There is nothing else and it is classy. I wanted to show others that my skills were a level above theirs…not just a few. He will see.”
Rated No. 2 by the WBC and WBO, Catterall is set to step in as a challenger soon to the winner of the pending WBC title bout between Alberto Puello and Sandor Martin and to the champion. WBO Teofimo Lopez, especially if top seed Arnold Barbosa Jr. Lost to former champion Jose Ramirez next month in Saudi Arabia
Prograis, ranked seventh among the three sanctioning agencies. Saw a path back to title contention by defeating Catterall.
“That is really good. This is probably the biggest fight you can do at 140 besides holding on to the belt,” he said. “I want to be champion again. So I knew it was going to come (to me) even faster.” When I lost the belt to Josh Taylor, it took me three years to win it again. It probably won’t take me another three years. I just want to go out there and perform and be me and have fun. Every day of practice is 95 percent good for me before every round. Coaches would tell me, ‘Go have fun,’ if I did that. I’ll show you my level. I want to show my talent. Obviously, I’m a big fighter. I want to present myself as relaxed. Go outside and have fun.”
He carried out that plan or risked Prograis sinking to back-to-back defeats knowing that his career calendar was seeing precious days fly away forever.
“I lost the belt to Josh Taylor and got it back against a murderer by knocking out Jose Zepeda, a man who never stops,” Prograis warned.
“Don’t doubt me. You can’t doubt me. I’m still a 140-year-old man. I’m still him.”
