By Keith Idec
Regis Prograis recognizes he won’t become a potential opponent for Adrien Broner unless Prograis wins a 140-pound championship.
If that happens, they both continue to win and Broner agrees to face him, Prograis is certain he would become the first fighter to knock out the former four-division champion.
Prograis discussed beating Broner during a recent episode of “At The Fights” on SiriusXM radio.
“I will hurt Adrien Broner,” Prograis said. “Really, Adrien Broner has to fight Figueroa and we don’t know if he’s gonna win that. I hope he does win it, so that his name could be back big again. But I don’t know. Everybody says ‘Adrien Broner.’ I’ve been calling out Adrien Broner for like three years now. He knows exactly who I am. But I think once I get the belt, then maybe he’ll take the fight against me or something like that. I don’t know.”
The powerful Prograis, a New Orleans native who relocated to Houston after Hurricane Katrina, must first defeat Ukraine’s Viktor Postol in their upcoming fight for a vacant title. Prograis (20-0, 17 KOs) and Postol (29-1, 12 KOs) are set to meet March 9 for the WBC interim super lightweight title in a fight Showtime will televise from Deadwood, South Dakota.
The Prograis-Postol winner will have to fight whoever wins a March 17 bout in New York between Jose Ramirez (21-0, 16 KOs), of Avenal, California, and Amir Imam (21-1, 18 KOs), of Albany, New York. Imam and Ramirez will fight for the vacant WBC 140-pound championship Terence Crawford gave up when he moved up to welterweight last year.
Broner, meanwhile, is headed toward an April 21 battle against Omar Figueroa (27-0-1, 19 KOs) at a venue to be announced. Cincinnati’s Broner (33-3, 24 KOs, 1 NC) will fight for the first time since losing a unanimous decision to Mikey Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) in their 12-round, 140-pound fight July 29 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The 28-year-old Broner has lost decisions to Marcos Maidana, Shawn Porter and Garcia, but hasn’t been stopped during his nine-year pro career.
“If I fight Adrien Broner, I guarantee I’ll be the first person to stop him,” Prograis said. “I can guarantee you. I know he has a couple losses on his record, but if me and him fight, I’m pretty sure I’ll be the first person to stop him.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
