WBC world champion Regis Prograis is confident that he did enough to retain his junior welterweight title on Saturday with a twelve round split decision victory over Danielito Zorrilla at the Smoothie King Arena in New Orleans.
The scores were 118-109 and 117-110 for Prograis, while the third judge saw Zorrilla winning 114-113.
Prograis dropped Zorrilla in the third round, but there were very few fireworks in the fight.
The once-beaten champion explained that his first defense was tougher than expected, with Zorrilla moving around the ring for most of the fight.
“I was confident I would get the decision. It was a tough win but I felt like I deserved the win. I got the drop early and I kept pressing the action but he ran around the whole time. I definitely have to go back to the gym and work on some things but he ran, he definitely tried to survive,” Prograis said.
There was some controversy in the first round, when Zorrilla connected with big right hand and Prograis appeared go down, but the referee ruled it off as a slip – because Prograis, as he was going down, grabbed Zorrilla and that move caused both of them to fall down.
Prograis admits that it could have been a legitimate knockdown scored by Zorrilla.
“That was a good punch, that right hand he caught me with,” Prograis said. “It looks like a knockdown but when I did it, it didn’t feel like it. I never was hurt.”
“He was stronger than I thought. He caught me with some punches. But he just ran around. It was hard to get to him. He felt the power when I did drop him and he started running even more.”
Prograis captured the vacant WBC title when he knocked out Jose Zepeda last November.