Regis Prograis trusted his gut.
The WBC super lightweight champion had some people he trusts telling him to sign a multi-fight promotional contract with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. Others whose opinions Prograis values urged him to choose Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.
Ultimately, the New Orleans native determined last month that signing a three-fight deal with Matchroom would serve him best in the short term. The powerful southpaw knew he would take some criticism from fans and media who would argue that Top Rank could offer Prograis the Josh Taylor-Teofimo Lopez winner or Jose Ramirez, the former WBC/WBO champ Prograis has long targeted, in the second fight of his deal with Top Rank and ESPN, its exclusive broadcast partner, because Top Rank promotes Lopez, Taylor and Ramirez.
Prograis was tempted by Top Rank’s package, but the offer from Matchroom made him most comfortable.
Prograis’ first fight of his new promotional agreement is scheduled for Saturday night, when he’ll defend his WBC belt for the first time against Puerto Rico’s Danielito Zorrilla. DAZN will stream the 12-round, 140-pound championship bout between Prograis (28-1, 24 KOs) and Zorrilla (17-1, 13 KOs) as a main event from Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
“The breakdown was this,” Prograis told BoxingScene.com. “I mean, this was kinda like the story – with Top Rank it was like I would be part of the plan. And with Eddie, I am the plan, basically. That’s the long story short type of thing. And when he told me that, it made sense. And we kinda partnered on things. He let me do my Rougarou Promotions. For this fight in New Orleans, you know, I am putting certain fighters on my undercard. I have [had] a lot of say-so in decision-making. So, that was kind of one of my reasons. And I just had that gut feeling. Sometimes in your gut, you can’t ignore it.”
The 34-year-old Prograis was supposed to battle Liam Paro (23-0, 14 KOs) on Saturday night, but the Australian contender suffered an Achilles’ injury while training soon after their fight was announced. Assuming Prograis beats Zorrilla, against whom he is at least a 14-1 favorite according to most sportsbooks, he expects to fight again before the end of this year.
The level of activity Hearn assured him as part of this short-term contract was also important to Prograis. The former WBA super lightweight champion has fought only twice since April 2021, but he will box three times within a span of 12-14 months as part of his Matchroom deal.
That type of activity would allow Prograis to revisit higher-profile fights with Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs), assuming he doesn’t remain retired in the wake of his rejuvenating victory over Josh Taylor, and possibly Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) in essentially a year from now. Prograis did note, though, that he hopes a title unification fight with Puerto Rico’s Subriel Matias (19-1, 19 KOs), the IBF junior welterweight champ, is the third bout of his Matchroom/DAZN deal.
“It’s a short-term deal,” Prograis said. “It is a really, really short-term deal. Three fights in less than a year, that’s a really short-term deal. So, all that stuff people are saying, all that’s still gonna be on the table in 12 months.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.