Regis Prograis has a vision of the headlines after his junior welterweight fight against Jack Catterall on Saturday: “Prograis beats Catterall in his own backyard.”
Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena, which will host the hotly anticipated clash, is less than an hour’s drive from Catterall’s (29-1 13 KOs) hometown of Chorley. The north England faithful have been driving their man on with passion in recent months, with his victory over Josh Taylor in May ramping up expectation over a potential world-title bout.
While his fans may be dreaming of a trip New York or Las Vegas, Manchester will always be the Catterall clan’s home to fiercely protect.
Boos will likely greet Prograis (29-2 24 KOs) as he walks to the ring, but the prospect of silencing the raucous crowd is one the American is relishing — particularly given that he has done it before. His 2022 victory over California native Jose Zepeda in Carson springs to mind for the 35-year-old, and he is adamant he can do it again.
“Look at my résumé. I already beat people that’s never been beaten. I drop people that’s never been dropped. I knock people out that’s never been knocked out before, I stop people that’s never been stopped,” Prograis told ESPN.
Prograis, a self-proclaimed risk-taker, believes the fight is the biggest to be made outside of a title bout at 140 pounds. The winner will likely go on to challenge for a belt, while the loser will lurch back into the abyss of a highly competitive division.
“I think it’s a perfect opportunity for me,” Prograis said. “I feel like everything is lined up for me … I understand that after this, I’ll probably be back to No. 1 in division. Who else is fighting somebody of this calibre? You have the belt-holders and stuff like that, but they’re really not fighting nobody of this calibre.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn believes the atmosphere inside the arena will be crackling come fight time, but doesn’t expect it to bother the American.
“We’ll have about 9,000 [fans] in there, it’ll be a really good crowd. Jack’s got a really big following as well. [Prograis] will be viciously booed on the ring walk, but that’s okay. I think he has experienced a lot of that,” Hearn told ESPN.
“What I love about this fight is you’ve got two guys, probably top five in the division, and rather than just picking someone out the rankings, they’re fighting each other. That’s quite unique really, because both are chasing the world-title shot, but both have kind of said, f— it, let’s fight each other.”
As confident as he is, Prograis’ only other venture across the Atlantic was not a success with a defeat to Taylor in 2019 in London seeing him lose his WBA title.
He re-climbed the mountain to become a two-time champion with victory over Zepeda, but lost his belt again in a convincing defeat to Devin Haney in December. Now on his quest to become a three-time champion, he admits having a strap isn’t something he fully appreciated before.
“The first time I won a belt, it was like it was nothing. Then the second time I won it, it took a long time, but after I won it, I really didn’t appreciate it,” Prograis said.
Hearn said Prograis may have lost the hunger after past success but thinks the focus is back ahead of Saturday.
“He looks a bit more mean this time. He’s walking with a bit more intent, and I think he needs to be spiteful in this fight,” Hearn said.
“I think the styles will gel and let’s be honest, Regis has to win. Jack really needs to win because the winner’s probably going to fight the winner of [Liam] Paro and [Richardson] Hitchins. So you’ve really got a world-championship shot right there.”
Regardless of the outcome, the buildup has been completely different for Prograis in comparison to his clash with Haney, where trash talk and arguments dominated the lead up and created a storm Prograis got sucked into.
“With me and Bill [Haney] and my coach and Devin … That’s what we wanted to do [talk] more than focus on the fight,” Prograis said.
“It was fun to just talk s— to Devin, to Bill and then people on the street coming up to you and saying: ‘Oh man, that was cool what you said to Devin’ and all that type of stuff. But we did all that and not worry about the fight as much.”
With so much at stake on Saturday, neither fighter can afford any distractions if they are to achieve their ultimate goal of a shot at global glory.
Source: www.espn.com