Prograis hoping for August return
Throughout the lockdown, former WBA world super lightweight champion Regis “Rougarou” Prograis (24-1, 20 KO’s) was one of the many fighters who consistently uploaded training footage to his social media. It was equally important to him to stay in shape as it was for us to know he was doing so. Now that boxing is preparing make its’s return, Prograis would love to be in the first wave of boxers back.
Prior to the quarantine, Prograis was scheduled to face amateur rival Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (27-1-3, 18 KO’s) on April 17. Each man was looking to right their career. As for Prograis, he is coming in directly after suffering a close majority decision loss to IBF and WBA super world super lightweight champion Josh “The Tartan Tornado” Taylor (16-0, 12 KO’s).
Hooker is one fight removed from his sole professional defeat. After five full and exciting rounds, WBC and WBO world super lightweight champion Jose Carlos Ramirez (25-0, 17 KO’s) finally caught up with and stopped Hooker in the sixth round in their July 27, 2019 unification bout.
Since that time, Mighty Mo, #5 WBC, has rebounded with a first round knockout of Uriel Perez (19-5, 17 KO’s). If rescheduled, the fight with the Rougarou, who is ranked #9 IBF, #4 WBA and #2 WBC, will mark Hooker’s first return to elite level competition since his loss.
HOPE ON THE HORIZON
Despite there being nothing truly concrete to speak of at the moment, Prograis is still confident that he will be in the ring soon. In all his dealings with promoter Lou DiBella, the Rougarou has been left feeling that his name will be called in the very near future.
“No fight dates or anything like that, that’s what I am saying. Everybody is still kind of waiting right now. I know Lou DiBella and Eddie Hearn, they were saying I’ll be one of the first fights back on DAZN. So I think Eddie is going to try to do stuff in August, in the US on his own in August. So, I mean, I don’t know. The thing is we just kind of got to wait.”
Let’s hope that those rumblings turnout to be true and we have a fight announcement coming in short order. In the meantime, stay tuned to 3kingsboxing.com for all the latest updates and boxing news.
By: Bakari Simpson
