Notebook: Prograis long wait for 2nd title shot finally comes to end
Spence-Thurman on track; TR makes Lopez-Martin official; Quick hits; Show and tell
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The long and winding road to Regis Prograis’ second world title opportunity is nearly upon him. It’s fight week, training camp is all but done and he can’t wait to get back into the ring.
“Camp was hell,” Prograis said on Monday during a media workout at Churchill Boxing Gym in Santa Monica, California. “For me it’s like small victories in camp, like spending time with my children that I look forward to. This was a long camp, almost six months as I was supposed to fight in August and then this world title opportunity came up.”
The opportunity he referenced was the chance to face fellow southpaw Jose Zepeda for the vacant WBC junior welterweight title in the main event of a pay-per-view card being put on by Legendz Entertainment and MarvNation Promotions on Saturday (9 p.m. ET) at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. The card is available via traditional linear television pay-per-view as well as streaming outlets such as FITE and PPV. com.
“Training every day was three sessions, boxing in the morning, strength and conditioning in the late afternoon and then more boxing in the evening,” said Prograis, who will face Zepeda for the title then-undisputed champion Taylor relinquished on July 1. “I’m a night person when I’m not training so waking up early every day in camp wears on me.”
It’s been three years since Prograis, then the WBA 140-pound titleholder, faced then-IBF titlist Taylor to unify their titles in October 2019 in the final of the World Boxing Super Series tournament in London. Prograis fought well in his biggest fight but Taylor won an action-packed majority decision that could have gone either way.
Prograis was saddled with his only loss but few would have figured it would have taken him three years to land another title opportunity. He goes into the fight with Zepeda, who was Taylor’s mandatory challenger before he vacated the WBC title, having won three fights in a row by knockout, including a sixth-round stoppage of Tyrone McKenna in a title elimination fight in March in Dubai.
It was touch-and-go if Prograis would get the next WBC title shot because initially it was supposed to be Zepeda against former unified titlist Jose Ramirez, but when Ramirez elected to take off the rest of the year because he was getting married, Prograis was tapped to take his position in the fight with the winner obligated to face Ramirez.
“I just feel like I’m better,” Prograis said of where he is compared to three years ago. “I’m not really nervous at all. I’ve trained so much for the last three years for this opportunity.
“Zepeda can’t let me hit him too much in this fight if he’s trying to set traps. If I can find him I don’t think it’s going to be good for him. I don’t fight to box, I fight to hurt people. In my last three fights, I didn’t get hit and I got all three knockouts.”
Zepeda (35-2, 27 KOs), 33, of La Puente, California, missed the media workout because he was in a minor traffic accident on the way to the gym. He was uninjured in the accident and the fight was unaffected.
“Sorry about missing the media workouts. I had a little accident but I’m good. We are 100 percent ready to go,” Zepeda, who is 0-2 in title shots at lightweight and junior welterweight, said in a statement.
Prograis (27-1, 23 KOs), 33, of New Orleans, said he too is ready to go and can’t wait.
“This is what I really, really love — to fight,” Prograis said. “Love the world title and the money, but I really love getting in the ring on fight night.”
Spence vs. Thurman?
With the undisputed welterweight championship fight between three-belt titlist Errol Spence Jr. and titleholder Terence Crawford going unmade despite months of talks, it appears likely that Spence’s next fight will be against former unified titleholder Keith Thurman — an opponent he once said he would never face.
Spence had called out Thurman when he held the titles but he never looked Spence’s way, so when he eventually won titles he vowed never to give Thurman a shot.
That seems as though it is about to change as the fight between fellow PBC fighters has been positioned as next by the WBC and WBA.
At its recent annual convention the WBC ordered Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) to next face Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs), who was named mandatory challenger, despite having had only three fights since 2017 and going 2-1.
And on Monday the WBA agreed to a Nov. 14 request made by TGB Promotions on Spence’s behalf to grant him a special permit allowing him to defend against Thurman in February and once again put off a long overdue mandatory defense against WBA “regular” titlist Eimantas Stanionis. By agreeing to the special permit the WBA once again broke its rules by going against its policy of ordering full titleholders to face their secondary counterparts in order to reduce each division to having just one titleholder in an agonizing process that has been going on since August 2021.
The policy was once again ignored as Spence-Thurman is in the pipeline with the WBA also ordering Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs) to defend the regular belt against Vergil Ortiz Jr. (19-0, 19 KOs), who knocked out Michael McKinson in a title eliminator on Aug. 8.
“The winners of these bouts will square off in the near future to determine the pioneer body’s sole 147-pound champion,” the WBA said in its announcement.
The WBA added that “the winner of the bout, or Stanionis if it ends in a draw, will face the winner of Spence-Thurman within 180 days of their bouts. The winner of the Spence-Thurman bout is obligated to meet the winner of Stanionis-Ortiz.”
Lopez-Martin official
Top Rank made official on Monday that Spain’s Sandor Martin will face former unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez in a WBC junior welterweight final title eliminator on Dec. 10 (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 9 p.m. ET) at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Brooklyn, New York, native Lopez (17-1, 13 KOs), 25, was supposed to face former two-division titlist Jose Pedraza in what would not have been a title eliminator. But when Pedraza came down with a non-Covid-19 illness last week, former European champion Martin (40-2, 13 KOs), 29, a southpaw, replaced him and the fight was upgraded to an eliminator since the WBC had ordered a Lopez-Martin eliminator at its recent convention.
“We wish Jose Pedraza a speedy recovery, but we look forward to facing Sandor Martin,” Lopez said. “He was the opponent we originally wanted for Heisman Night at Madison Square Garden. I will continue to silence the doubters as I take over the 140-pound division. I look forward to giving my hometown fans a special night of boxing.”
Martin will have his second fight in the United States. He notched his biggest win 13 months ago in Fresno, California, where he won a majority 10-round decision over former four-division world titleholder Mikey Garcia at 144 pounds and sent Garcia into retirement.
“I’ve dreamed of fighting in a main event at Madison Square Garden,” Martin said. “This is my time. I’ve taken the risk, and I will take control against Teofimo Lopez on Dec. 10th. I will give the fans what they want to see.”
Quick hits
Ryan Garcia’s interim bout ahead of a planned showdown with Gervonta Davis is penciled in for Jan. 21, a source with direct knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite on Monday. The opponent, site and whether it will be a DAZN bout or a DAZN PPV bout were still being worked on, the source said. Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs), 24, of Los Angeles, announced Saturday that he would indeed take an interim bout ahead of a major Showtime PPV fight against Davis (27-0, 25 KOs), 28, of Baltimore, planned for April 15 in Las Vegas. Davis also will have an interim bout when he defends his WBA “regular” lightweight title against WBA junior lightweight titlist Hector Luis Garcia on Jan. 7 (Showtime PPV) at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. Davis-Garcia was agreed to as a nontitle bout at 136 pounds.
The WBO on Sunday formally ordered middleweight titlist Janibek Alimkhanuly and mandatory challenger Jaime Munguia to fight next, sending a letter outlining the matter to Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, Alimkhanuly’s promoter, and Golden Boy president Eric Gomez, Munguia’s co-promoter. They were given 15 days to make a deal or a purse bid will be ordered. Either side can request an immediate purse bid if they don’t want to negotiate. Minimum bid would be $200,000. Both fighters won recent bouts knowing of the WBO plans ahead of time. Alimkhanuly (13-0, 8 KOs), 29, of Kazakhstan, outpointed Denzel Bentley in his first defense on Nov. 12 and former junior middleweight titlist Munguia (41-0, 33 KOs), 26, of Mexico, blew out Gonzalo Coria via third-round knockout on Saturday.
Showtime will feature three title eliminators on a PBC card on Dec. 17 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Besides the previously announced main event, a WBA lightweight eliminator between Michel Rivera and Frank Martin, the card will also include two other eliminators that haven’t yet been formally announced. According to sources, former super middleweight titlist Jose Uzcategui (32-4, 27 KOs), 31, a Mexico-based Venezuelan, will face Vladimir Shishkin (13-0, 8 KOs), 31, a Detroit-based Russian, in an IBF super middleweight eliminator and Nikolai Potapov (23-2-1, 11 KOs), 32, a Russian fighting out of Brooklyn, New York, will meet the Philippines’ Vincent Astrolabio (17-3, 12 KOs), 25, in an IBF bantamweight eliminator. Astrolabio is coming off an upset 10-round decision over former bantamweight and junior featherweight titlist Guillermo Rigondeaux in February in Dubai.
Former WBO junior middleweight titlist Patrick Teixeira, looking to stop a three-fight losing streak, returns Nov. 26 in Sorocaba, Brazil, according to manager Patrick Nascimento. Teixeira (31-4, 22 KOs), 31, a Brazilian southpaw, will face Venezuela’s Adrian Perez (16-0-1, 14 KOs), 28, in an eight-rounder at super middleweight. Teixeira lost the title by decision to Brian Castano in February 2021. He then suffered a disputed second-round disqualification loss to Paul Valenzuela in April followed by a 10-round decision loss to unbeaten contender Magomed Kurbanov in July.
Show and tell
Mike Tyson was already a phenomenon exciting sports fans with his big knockouts when, at 20 years, 4 months, 22 days, he was ready to fight for a heavyweight title and fulfill the prophecy of late trainer and legal guardian Cus D’Amato, who predicted he’d become heavyweight champion. Not only did Tyson improve to 28-0 with 26 KOs in just his 21st month as a professional to become the youngest heavyweight champion in history, he did it in overwhelmingly destructive fashion when he challenged WBC titleholder Trevor Berbick at the Las Vegas Hilton. Berbick survived a knockdown in the first few seconds of the second round and then Tyson landed the title-winning left hook, essentially scoring three knockdowns with the single punch to the temple. Berbick rose but kept falling down because he was so badly disoriented, forcing referee Mills Lane to stop the fight. It wasn’t just a title win for Tyson but his coronation as the “Baddest Man on the Planet” and the start of a new era in boxing. That historic and memorable Tyson victory was on Nov. 22, 1986 — 36 years ago on Tuesday.
Items from the fight are somewhat tough to find, especially in top condition but I have three in my collection: a mint program, which is quite scarce, as well as two different thin cardboard site posters, the main artwork version and one with art from LeRoy Neiman.
Prograis photo: Tom Hogan; Spence photo: Ryan Hafey/PBC
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Credit to Sandor Martin for stepping in to fight Teofimo Lopez with only 3 weeks to go until the fight.
This gives Martin only 3 weeks to relocate to New York from Spain, deal with any jet lag effects, and train for the fight. I don't think Martin had been training for a fight and so it's a big ask to expect him to be on top form. The situation must give Lopez a big advantage and make him the favourite to win.
Loaded, Thanks. Anyone still complaining about Streaming Services like DAZN & ESPN+ being involved with Boxing. Due to their $100 plus annual subscription. Should keep in mind, paying $60 for a mid level fight card like Prograis/Zepeda or Bud/Avensyan will become a necessary commonplace if not for them. BTW, I’ve never understood the whole “Regis is the 140 Bogeyman” narrative. Prograis lost a competitive, but clear decision to Josh Taylor. And has been just floating around for years ever since. Jose Zepeda is the real Spoiler at 140 lbs. Zepeda for the Win this Saturday.