Eddie Hearn’s company isn’t the promoter of record for Regis Prograis or Josh Taylor.
The British promoter still can’t wait to sit ringside Saturday night to watch Prograis and Taylor square off in the World Boxing Super Series’ 140-pound final. Their 12-round fight figures to be a highly competitive battle between unbeaten southpaws who haven’t lost as professionals.
Matchroom Boxing, the company Hearn runs as managing director, is co-promoting the card headlined by Prograis-Taylor at O2 Arena in London.
“For me, you know, I don’t represent either of those guys – yet – and that is such a great matchup, it can’t be anything but a brilliant fight,” Hearn said. “You know, with the styles, with the way Josh Taylor fights, with the way Regis Prograis fights, I’ve gone backwards and forwards on it. When it was announced, I was there, ringside, when Josh Taylor boxed [Ivan] Baranchyk. I thought he was excellent.
“I’ve gotten to know Regis a little bit while he’s here. He’s been here three weeks. They spent their own money doing that. They really fancy it. You know, Lou [DiBella], Peter Berg, Mark Wahlberg, they’re all coming. They just, they fancy it, you know? And both guys are gonna have to come through fire.”
Prograis (24-0, 20 KOs), a Houston resident raised in New Orleans, arrived in London nearly three weeks before their fight to get acclimated to a different time zone, foreign food and worse weather than he experienced while training in Santa Monica, California.
The 30-year-old knockout artist is listed as a slight favorite against the 28-year-old Taylor (15-0, 12 KOs).
Their title unification fight was postponed three weeks while Prograis and his promoter, Lou DiBella, worked through contractual issues with the World Boxing Super Series and Comosa AG, the company that funds WBSS tournaments.
Prograis-Taylor is the main event of a Sky Sports Box Office pay-per-view event in the United Kingdom (7 p.m. BST; £19.95). It’ll headline DAZN’s stream in the United States, which will begin at 2 p.m. EDT/11 a.m. PDT.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.