By Keith Idec
Attractive alternatives have helped soften the blow somewhat for Regis Prograis.
The undefeated Prograis still is bothered by how the whole Jose Ramirez situation unfolded. Prograis anticipated when he accepted the WBC’s offer to fight for its interim championship that the sanctioning organization would make Ramirez defend his super lightweight title against Prograis next, as promised.
The left-handed knockout artist quickly realized, though, that Ramirez’s handlers had no interest in matching their emerging fan favorite against him in what would’ve been a dangerous fight for the newly crowned champion. Once Bob Arum, Ramirez’s promoter, asked Prograis to fight on Ramirez’s undercard to help build toward their title fight, Prograis knew it was time to pursue other options.
Luckily for Prograis (21-0, 18 KOs), organizers of the World Boxing Super Series decided to stage a 140-pound tournament. His participation in it will pay Prograis well and it’ll provide him opportunities to win world titles.
Prograis’ promoter, Lou DiBella, also was able to secure the hometown fight the New Orleans native wanted before the WBSS begins. The strong southpaw will fight for the WBC’s diamond championship against Argentina’s Juan Jose Velasco (20-0, 12 KOs) on July 14 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.
The Prograis-Velasco fight, which was officially announced at a press conference Wednesday in New Orleans, will air live on ESPN. Ramirez, meanwhile, will make the first defense of his title against Danny O’Connor (30-3, 11 KOs) on July 7 at Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, near Ramirez’s hometown of Avenal.
If they can continue winning, Prograis expects to meet Ramirez in the ring one day.
“Eventually, he’ll have to fight me,” Prograis told BoxingScene.com. “The thing is, when the fans demand something and the fans wanna see it, obviously it’ll bring more attention and more money. I think he would fight me. I don’t think he’s scared to fight, but as far as the business side of things go, I just think his manager and Bob Arum, they wouldn’t wanna take that fight because I’m too dangerous.
“He has a big fan base in his hometown and they wanna keep that and keep him a champion. But eventually, he’s gonna have to fight somebody. If it’s not me, Josh Taylor and Viktor Postol are supposed to fight for the interim title. I think if Josh Taylor wins, he’s supposed to go into the tournament. And if not, he can fight Ramirez for his belt. [Ramirez is] gonna eventually have to fight somebody worth challenging.”
Scotland’s Taylor (12-0, 11 KOs) and Ukraine’s Postol (29-1, 12 KOs) are expected to fight for the WBC interim 140-pound title Prograis has decided to give up June 23 at SSE Hydro in Glasgow. Prograis knocked out Namibia’s Julius Indongo (22-2, 11 KOs) in the second round March 9 in Deadwood, South Dakota, to win the WBC’s interim super lightweight championship.
Ramirez (22-0, 16 KOs) out-boxed Amir Imam (21-2, 18 KOs) on March 17 in New York to capture the then-vacant WBC 140-pound championship. Terence Crawford owned that title, but relinquished it to move up to the welterweight division.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
