Former two-time junior welterweight titleholder Regis Prograis has decided to hang up his gloves after a 14-year professional career, which concluded Saturday with a decision loss to Conor Benn.
Prograis’ retirement was first reported by Ring Magazine. Later, the fighter’s social media account posted video from his dressing room at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, where he’d fought in the co-feature bout to Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov on Netflix.
“I’m officially done with boxing,” Prograis, 30-4 (24 KOs), told team members and others in the video. “It's time to just figure out the next phase of my life. Do something else, you know? I mean, I’ve been boxing for 20 years now. So I feel like I’m done with it. I do want to do something else.”
Prograis was very marked up from the fight, which ended with all three judges scoring the bout 98-92 for Benn.
“I saw my face. I don’t want to look like this no more. I don’t want to feel like this no more,” Prograis said. “I’m glad I’m getting out of this at the right time. You know, I don’t want no issues. I definitely don’t want no long-term issues and stuff like that.”
Prograis had a compelling story, moving from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Houston, Texas, after Hurricane Katrina devastated his hometown in 2005. He turned pro in 2012 and made the transition from prospect to contender in 2017 and 2018, picking up wins over the 23-0 Joel Diaz Jnr (TKO2), former titleholder Julius Indongo (TKO2) and the 20-0 Juan Jose Velasco (TKO8).
That landed him in the World Boxing Super Series junior welterweight tournament. He outpointed Terry Flanagan, stopped Kiryl Relikh in six rounds to pick up the WBA world title, and then met Josh Taylor in the tournament finale in October 2019. Taylor won a majority decision in a competitive fight.
Prograis then put together a five-fight winning streak, earning the vacant WBC 140lbs belt with an 11th-round TKO of Jose Zepeda in November 2022. He defended it with a split decision over Danielito Zorrilla in June 2023 and then met Devin Haney in December of that same year.
Haney dropped Prograis once and shut him out on the scorecards. That was Prograis’ second defeat and the last time he’d be in a title fight.
Prograis returned in October 2024 and lost a decision to Jack Catterall. Last August, he got back on the winning side by outpointing Joseph Diaz Jnr. But the perception going into this Benn bout was that Prograis was very much on the downslide. And there were rumors going around that Prograis was injured and would pull out of the match. (After the bout, Prograis told Chris Mannix that he had injuries to his right hand, eye, rib and jaw.)
“I was going through so much stuff, bro,” Prograis said. “I wanted to pull out so bad. I told my mom, I told y’all. Everybody said, ‘If you pull out, bro, you’re going to regret this for the rest of your life.’ And I’m not gonna lie, I'm so glad that I went through this, bro. I went through this stage in my career. I had a great career. You can't ask for better than that. I fought in front of 70,000 people [and] on Netflix. It’s no better ending for this.
“I was terrified of fighting, you know? Because of course, everybody knew I was injured. I had all kinds of stuff going on in camp. Mentally wasn’t there, and I did not want to fight. I was terrified of fighting. I’m glad my son came, and I told him, ‘When you’re scared of something, go through it.’”
He went through it. And now he’s through. And the fighter who published a book about his life and career is ready for his next chapter.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
