Manager Rick Mirigian Urgently Trying To Make Regis Prograis vs Arnold Barboza
The WBO has ordered top contenders Arnold Barboza Jr (28-0, 10KO) and Liam Paro (23-0, 14KO) to begin negotiations in a junior welterweight title eliminator. However, Barboza’s manager, Rick Mirigian, wants to make a fight between his guy and WBC champion Regis Prograis (28-1, 24KO).
With #1 contender and former unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez set to face WBO champion Josh Taylor on June 10, it comes as no surprise the WBO made this move as both Barboza Jr and Paro are ranked #2 and #3, respectively. The WBO issued its usual talking points that the parties have ten days upon issuance of the letter to make a deal before a purse bid gets called by the organization.
RICK MIRIGIAN WANTS TO MAKE BARBOZA JR VERSUS PROGRAIS A REALITY
Mirigian took to social media to see if Prograis was interested in fighting Barboza Jr before the ordering came. Then once the order came down from the organization, he again tried appealing to the WBC champion.
On February 3, after defeating two-division champion Jose Pedraza, Barboza quickly called out the top fighters in the division, including Prograis. In fairness, Mirigian stating they won’t argue in trying to make the fight is worth the WBC champion at the very least hearing them out.
In this author’s opinion, the fight will be hard to make until Prograis, now a free agent, finds a home. Barboza fights under the Top Rank banner, and this fight is extremely risky to the point they are probably going to want Prograis under contract first.
Boxing fans saw first-hand what happened when the WBC ordered former unified champion Jose Ramirez and Prograis. They didn’t even get to the purse bid table before Ramirez, also with Top Rank, walked away stating there was no money in taking the fight.
It will be interesting to see what happens within the next ten days. Will Prograis sign with Top Rank to make the fight, or is Barboza Jr – Paro going to be next? Whatever happens, 3kingsboxing.com will be ready to deliver any further updates on this situation.
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