The Everlasting Feud of Maurice Hooker and Regis Prograis
Ever since their collision in the amateurs, Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (27-1-3, 18 KO’s) and Regis “Rougarou” Prograis (24-1, 20 KO’s) have harbored a particular dislike for the other. At the conclusion of that three-round contest, the taller Texan walked away with the nod on the scorecards. As can be expected, Prograis feels as though he won while Hooker naturally believes the right hand got raised.
The two were recently looking to rekindle their feud as professionals. Contracts had been signed and the exciting rumble was on the way all up until COVID-19 stormed the globe. That fight, like a great portion of life, was suspended indefinitely. To make matters even worse Mighty Mo would come forward to announce that he couldn’t make the agreed upon 143 catch weight limit, nor would he try.
CONTRACTS ARE BINDING
Ultimately, the issue turned out to be a deal breaker when Prograis could not locate any satisfactory common ground. The Rougarou is decidedly currently competing at junior welterweight and has no desire to move up right this second. He’d already given Hooker three pounds of wiggle room and was not giving anymore.
Therefore, unwilling to make himself accommodating for his opponent’s last minute alterations, the prizefight was scrapped. When Prograis gave his take on the matter, he verbally gave Hooker both barrels. He called him undisciplined, scary and unprofessional, among a whole host of other less than flattering descriptions.
HEAD SCRATCHER
Since hearing the inflammatory comments, Mighty Mo has returned fire and declared that it was actually Prograis who was scared. Admittedly, his case for why the fight did not take place is rather shaky. As told by Maurice Hooker, to Fight Hub TV, he has had grand difficulty making the 140lbs limit for the last few fights. Knowing the strain that making weight puts on his body, the Texan thought it would be a poor idea to face the Rougarou in diminished condition.
So one would have to wonder, why make the fight at 140lbs then?
“Over the time, I been spending time with my kids and I’ve decided to move up to 147. My last two or three fights I been having trouble making 140. You know, I don’t want to struggle no more; I want to go into the fight strong for the whole ten rounds, twelve rounds. Me making 140 takes a great impact on me fight night because my legs would be gone. I’d be weak making weight so I decided to move to 147.”
“So I told Regis and them, and my team, and then Regis was like he ain’t going to go up to 147. He was like, ‘let’s do 144’. Naw that’s still too low because my last couple of fights, my last or four fights, the last two being 143 and I couldn’t make that either.”
“…he really don’t want to fight. If he wanted to fight he’d make the pound. And then he want to get all on-line, go back and forth; to me that is little girl stuff, that is childish. I’m not going to go on-line and have an argument about it with a grown man, who supposed to be grown. I’m going to handle it like an adult. Either we going to fight or we not going to fight, if not shut up and move on!”
MAYBE LATER
As a result of the newly aggravated tension, Regis Prograis decided to release the footage from that fateful amateur bout by way of his YouTube channel. Clearly, he remains so confident that he should have won that he posted the event to let the public choose a winner for themselves.
Yet, while it is disappointing that these two will not trade a bit of leather in their next outing, there definitely is still hope for it happening in the future. Hooker has already moved up to the welterweight division and Prograis will not be far behind. When the day comes that they once again share the same division, Hooker has let it be known that he welcomes and looks forward to the fight.
“We going to fight. So remember, before the fight, the winner of Mikey Garcia and Jessie Vargas was going to fight the winner out of me and Regis. At what weight? 147, right! So why he can’t move up right now to fight me because the winner is going to fight Mikey Garcia or Jessie Vargas at 147, so what a difference now?”
“…When he see me tell him to keep that same energy ‘cause me, I don’t got no bad blood. But when he see me, keep that same energy and if he do, I’m going to slap him!”
By: Bakari Simpson
