Regis Prograis couldn’t wait to return home for his first fight in New Orleans in nearly five years.
From an entertainment standpoint, it proved to be a night to forget though one which the two-time junior welterweight titlist will use to build and improve.
A twelve-round, split decision victory over Danielito Zorrilla came from Prograis’ hometown headliner and WBC 140-pound title defense Saturday evening at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. The favorable style matchup on paper devolved into an ugly boxing match that failed to resonate with the fans, DAZN viewers or even the night’s winner.
“We definitely have to go back to the gym and work on some things,” Prograis admitted to DAZN’s Chris Mannix in the ring. “He ran. He was just trying to survive. He was strong so I thought he would throw (more) punches but he just ran around. It was kind of hard to get to him.”
Prograis (29-1, 24KOs) was considered fortunate to avoid a knockdown call late in round one, though Zorilla (17-2, 13KOs) still felt compelled to box largely from the outside throughout the contest. The local hero landed a left hand to drop Zorrilla in round three, after which point the first-time time title challenger from Toa Alta, Puerto Rico went on the move for most of the rest of the night.
Zorrilla’s stick-and-move style was enough to win on the scorecard of Craig Metcalfe (114-113), overruled by judges Robert Tapper (118-109) and Josef Mason (117-110) who scored wide for Prograis.
The win was the fourth in a row for Prograis since his October 2019 narrow defeat to Scotland’s Josh Taylor (19-1, 13KOs) in their WBA/IBF unification bout and World Boxing Super Series tournament finale. Taylor went on to fully unify the division in May 2021 but since relinquished the WBA, WBC and IBF belts and recently lost his WBO belt to Teofimo Lopez via unanimous decision June 10 in New York City.
Prograis picked up the vacant WBC title in an eleventh-round knockout of Jose Zepeda last November 26 to become a two-time titlist. His current title stay of eight months (and counting) leaves the 34-year-old southpaw as the longest reigning active titleholder in the division, as the WBA, IBF and WBO belts have all changed hands this year.
Many regarded Prograis as the best fighter in the division, though no favors were gained from any detractors following Saturday’s performance.
“It was a tough win,” noted Prograis. “I felt like I deserved the win. Just to see the people in my backyard, I’m glad I brought it back. But I got to work on some things for sure.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox