Prograis-Taylor - The (Semi-Final) Final is Here

Unification is in the air.

Currently there are at least partially unified titlists from 135 to 154 lbs. As the heart of the lineup for boxing’s seventeen divisions, it says a lot about the health of the sport. We never get all the best fights available but it’s an indication we’re getting a sizable fair share with unification at light heavyweight last week still fresh in mind.

After Saturday, two men will be able to make the claim at 140.

When the second iteration of the World Boxing Super Series was announced, all three fields looked strong. Bantamweight and Jr. welterweight looked poised to present clear divisional leaders to the world by the end.

A lot can happen over three rounds of fights. The bantamweight field lost titlist Zolani Tete, watering down the road to a still-anticipated final between Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire.

The Jr. welterweight field held together better. A deep eight with a substantial number of consensus top ten contenders whittled down to the men who looked liked the favorites all along. WBA titlist Regis Prograis (24-0, 20 KO) faces IBF titlist Josh Taylor (15-0, 12 KO) in what appears, for the second week in a row, to be a near 50-50, marquee unification fight for the sport.

The winner will have two straps, keep their “0,” and get a big trophy.

Given the events of 2019, they’ll still be only halfway to the real finish line.

While the WBSS captured a good chunk of the best at Jr. welterweight, two prominent beltholders stayed outside the field. To the benefit of fans, and the sport, they opted to face each other. In July, WBC beltholder Jose Ramirez (25-0, 17 KO) stopped WBO beltholder Maurice Hooker in an outstanding fight. In the fight prior, Ramirez bested a tough Jose Zepeda who was reasonably on par with the quarterfinal foes of Taylor and Prograis.

In other words, while the tournament was going on, Ramirez managed to keep pace from the outside.

It’s a good thing and takes nothing away from what’s on tap Saturday (DAZN, 2 PM EST).

Prograis-Taylor is too good a matchup for anything to detract from it. The 30-year old Prograis and 28-year old Taylor are in their primes and may only be at the front end. Neither has likely seen their best day in the ring yet. Maybe we’ll see it against each other.

Maybe the winner will be laying a prelude to something more in the future.

Ramirez should factor in to that something more. Boxing since the birth of the WBO in the late 80s, and their gradual acceptance as a fourth bestower of honors, has only had a handful of battlers hold a matching quartet of diadems at the same time. Jr. welterweight has had it happen via Terence Crawford and could potentially offer it up again in 2020.

Who is more likely to be the other dual-belted man in the class after this weekend?

There are reasons to like both men’s chances.

Taylor is taller, longer, can crack, and will have home field advantage in the UK. While he’s had less pro fights than Prograis, Taylor has arguably been in tougher than Prograis so far. It’s not a wide margin but rounds against former titlists like Viktor Postol and Miguel Vazquez didn’t hurt.

Prograis’s experience edge isn’t far off if at all. Prograis blew out former unified titlist Julius Indongo in two last year and blitzed Kiryl Relikh for the WBA belt in his semi-final contest. Prograis is the quicker man and appears the more fluid athlete of the pair. Like Taylor, he can end nights early. Prograis doesn’t seem fazed by going on the road and, sometimes, hostile crowds can motivate.

If Prograis is the sort of fighter that’s true for, we could see a special performance from him.

Despite the setbacks and delays of the WBSS, particularly this time around, it’s hard to argue with the results in the ring. While the sustainability of the concept is questionable, over the course of five tournaments, these are the five finals reached:

Oleksandr Usyk-Murat Gassiev (Cruiserweight)

Callum Smith-George Groves (Super middleweight)

Prograis-Taylor

Inoue-Donaire (forthcoming)

Mairis Briedis-Yunier Dorticos (Cruiserweight-forthcoming)

For fans who want to see boxing contested in a form that looks like elimination sports, it has provided that. It’s commendable while still leaving room for more outside the fields in many regards.

For the winner of Inoue-Donaire, more would be circling back to Tete and maybe Luis Nery down the road. For the winner of Prograis-Taylor, it’s easier.

And for fans, it’s a chance to have something immediate to look forward to and an instant point of hope to look toward for tomorrow. 

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com