Prograis: Me & Josh Taylor - That'll Be Real Big Fight in Future

By Keith Idec

Regis Prograis still hopes he gets the opportunity to beat Jose Ramirez at some point.

Ultimately, though, the powerful southpaw expects a showdown with Josh Taylor to become the fight for him within the 140-pound division.

Taylor likely will enter the World Boxing Super Series’ super lightweight tournament, to which Prograis already is committed.

Prograis could see them meeting in the WBSS’ 140-pound final, depending on the tournament’s structure.

“I think that’ll be a real big fight in the future, me and Josh Taylor,” Prograis told BoxingScene.com. “If he enters the tournament, that’ll come sooner than later.”

Prograis and Taylor, who has said he would “love” to enter, must win their upcoming matches to solidify their positions in the WBSS tournament.

Scotland’s Taylor (12-0, 11 KOs) is scheduled to encounter Ukraine’s Viktor Postol (29-1, 12 KOs) on June 23 in Glasgow. Taylor, 27, and Postol, 34, are expected to fight for the WBC interim super lightweight championship Prograis has agreed to vacate at SSE Hydro.

Three weeks later, the 29-year-old Prograis (21-0, 18 KOs) is set to box Argentina’s Juan Jose Velasco (20-0, 12 KOs) for the WBC’s diamond championship July 14 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Prograis’ hometown. The Prograis-Velasco card will be officially announced Wednesday during a press conference in New Orleans.

Prograis was supposed to oppose Postol on March 9 in Deadwood, South Dakota. He instead knocked out replacement Julius Indongo (22-2, 11 KOs) in the second round because Postol suffered a fractured thumb during training camp.

“I think he’ll beat Postol,” Prograis said of Taylor. “Postol has been sitting for a while, but he only has one loss, also, so I’m not sure what Postol is bringing right now. He didn’t fight in a while, so I don’t know. We don’t know how that’s gonna go. It might be a good fight. I don’t know yet. But in my personal opinion, I think Taylor should beat Postol.”

If Taylor tops Postol, he’d be in position to fight Ramirez, the same spot Prograis occupied after he defeated Indongo and Ramirez out-boxed Amir Imam (21-2, 18 KOs) to win the then-vacant WBC crown March 17 in New York. The heavy-handed Prograis immediately sensed Ramirez’s handlers didn’t want them to fight next, largely because Ramirez has become one of boxing’s biggest draws in Fresno, California, near Ramirez’s hometown of Avenal.

Ramirez (22-0, 16 KOs) will make the first defense of his title against Danny O’Connor (30-3, 11 KOs), a big underdog from Framingham, Massachusetts, on July 7 at Save Mart Center in Fresno.

“If Josh Taylor doesn’t go in the tournament,” Prograis said, “it’ll be because if he beats Viktor Postol that means he’ll be the interim champion. He can stay out of the tournament and then he can fight Ramirez. I think he’ll definitely beat Ramirez. I don’t know if [Taylor will want to] run around with Ramirez and his manager and Bob Arum, with them trying not to fight him. I think they’ll try to hurry up and get that belt from Ramirez. I don’t think Ramirez would beat Josh Taylor. Of course, I can be wrong and he can surprise me, but I just don’t think so.”

Prograis hopes, however, that Taylor enters a tournament that also is expected to include WBA champ Kiryl Relikh (22-2, 19 KOs), who’ll meet mandatory challenger Eduard Troyanovsky (27-1, 24 KOs) in the quarterfinals, Ryan Martin (22-0, 12 KOs), and Ivan Baranchyk (18-0, 11 KOs), who’ll compete against Anthony Yigit (21-0-1, 7 KOs) for the vacant IBF title in the quarterfinals.

“He’s real good,” Prograis said of Taylor. “He can do a lot of different things. He’s tall, he’s long, he’s southpaw, he’s fast, he’s strong. He looks like he has a good outside game and a good inside game. So that’d be a real good fight. From what I’ve seen, he’s good. He can definitely fight.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.