By Keith Idec

Regis Prograis has a higher opinion of Josh Taylor than he did before the Scottish southpaw defeated Viktor Postol.

Based on what he saw from Taylor when he beat Postol, Prograis predicted Taylor will defeat Ryan Martin in the quarterfinals of the World Boxing Super Series’ 140-pound tournament Saturday night in Glasgow. Taylor (13-0, 11 KOs) and Cleveland’s Martin (22-0, 12 KOs) will meet in a 12-round fight at SSE Hydro (DAZN; 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT).

“Postol is a hard fighter,” Prograis told BoxingScene.com. “Postol is a former world champion. He’s a hard fighter, so all those other fights [Taylor] had, it’s cool and all that, but it depends on who you fight. And, you know, you beat somebody like Postol, that’s definitely a step up on your resume. So, for me, it made him better. In my eyes, it made him better that he beat Postol.”

Taylor, 27, topped Postol, 34, by unanimous decision in their 12-round fight June 23 in Glasgow. Prograis thinks Postol (29-2, 12 KOs) was more competitive than the scorecards indicated (119-108, 118-110, 117-110), yet he was impressed with how Taylor neutralized Postol’s awkwardness and clearly won.

“It was a good fight,” Prograis said. “He won, but it was definitely closer than they scored it. He got hurt a few times, too, but it was a good win for him. I talked to him after and he said Postol was just real awkward. I talked to him in the dressing rooms at the pairings [July 20 in Moscow], and he said Postol was real awkward. Because I was supposed to fight Postol.”

The 29-year-old Prograis (23-0, 19 KOs) advanced to the WBSS semifinals by out-pointing England’s Terry Flanagan (33-2, 13 KOs) in their 12-round bout Saturday night at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Prograis’ hometown. Prograis, who floored Flanagan in the eighth round and won a unanimous decision, will battle Belarus’ Kiryl Relikh (23-2, 19 KOs) in the next round.

If Prograis can get past Relikh, he could encounter Taylor in the WBSS’ 140-pound final. The Taylor-Martin winner will box Russia’s Ivan Baranchyk (19-0, 12 KOs), who stopped Sweden’s Anthony Yigit (21-1-1, 7 KOs) following seven one-sided rounds to win the vacant IBF junior welterweight title on the Prograis-Relikh undercard.

“If they end up fighting, I pick Ivan Baranchyk to beat Josh Taylor,” Prograis said. “Just because he’s real serious. After the pairing, we all went out to eat together – Baranchyk and his team and his manager. And he said, ‘Me and you are gonna be in the final.’ And we kind of toasted to it.

“He was real serious. And, you know, Russians are real serious, anyway. So he was like real serious about it. I seen in his eyes that he can pull of the win against Josh Taylor. Josh Taylor is a real good boxer. He can do all kinds of stuff – inside, outside, he’s fast, he’s real tall and long. But if he gets in a dogfight with Ivan Baranchyk, which Ivan Baranchyk will get in a dogfight, I think I can see Ivan Baranchyk pulling that off.”

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