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Regis Prograis isn’t going to dwell on a fight that probably won’t happen anytime soon.
The WBC 140-pound titlist from New Orleans recently shut down the prospect of him defending his belt against Teofimo Lopez, the former unified lightweight champion and current junior welterweight contender.
Per the WBC rankings, Lopez is the highest-rated contender to be in line for a shot at Prograis’ title. The development comes after Jose Ramirez declined an opportunity to face Prograis, citing an unfair purse split of 65-35 that was in favor of Prograis.
Prograis feels strongly that Lopez, who is coming off a somewhat underwhelming split decision win over Sandor Martin in December, will mimic Ramirez’s actions, despite recent claims from Lopez’s father insisting “We gonna beat the sh!t out of him.”
“Absolutely not,” Prograis said, when asked if Lopez would fight him in an interview with iD Boxing. “I don’t think he’s gonna take the fight with me. It’s bullsh!t, bro. Listen that’s what people do, in boxing these days. They say ‘Oh I’mm a fight’– When they know the fight is not going to happen, they’re going to say, ‘Oh, I’mma fight him, I’mma fight him next.’
“I saw his daddy say he wants to fight me in April. OK. Let’s see if that’s gonna happen. People are gonna say they want the fight, but it’s gonna be some more bullsh!t. The same thing with the (Ramirez) split or something, they gonna say, ‘oh I don’t agree to that. I don’t agree to this,’ and the fight not gon’ happen. That’s what people doing these days. That’s how it is in boxing. That’s what people are gonna do.”
Like Ramirez, Lopez is promoted by Top Rank, which refuses to do business with Probellum, Prograis’ promoter, because it believes the company has ties with Irish drug cartel boss Daniel Kinahan, which Probellum has denied.
A visibly peeved Prograis expressed his disgust with the state of professional boxing, in which business often trumps the sporting aspects.
“Mike Tyson said it best, these fighters are businessmen,” Prograis continued. “They’re not fighters. They’re businessmen. More than a fighter. At the end of the day, I got into this because I’m a fighter. Of course, you definitely want to be a businessman and you definitely want to make the most money that you can, but me, I love boxing. I don’t love the business side of boxing. I love the sport of boxing. For me, yes, I will fight Ramirez next, I will fight Teofimo next, I don’t care who it is. I want to fight ‘em. I just don’t see them fighting me.
“It’s easy for the dog to bark behind a cage, you know what I’m sayin’? But when you open that fence that dog ain’t tryin’ to come out.”
Still, when asked to envision how a fight would play out between him and Lopez, Prograis did not mince words. Many observers feel Lopez has not been the same since his upset defeat at the hands of George Kambosos Jr. in 2021. In his recent fight against Martin, Lopez was caught openly questioning his abilities.
“Mentally he is crumbling,” said Prograis, who won the WBC belt with a dominant 11th-round stoppage of Jose Zepeda in November. “Mentally he is not there. Listen, I like Teo. I don’t want to say nothin’ bad about him, I like him and stuff, but if he fights me, I feel like I’mma hurt him. I keep saying the same thing.
“If I hurt Teo I will hurt Teo. He can have the flash, he can have the speed, he can have all that stuff. But I feel like if I hurt Teo … I know mentally he’s not stronger than me. So Mentally I’m gonna break him. I already know mentally I will crush him. I will crush him. In a mental battle I will crush him. He can have all that stuff.”
As for his immediate future, Prograis threw up his hands. The WBC recently granted a voluntary mandatory defense to Prograis.
“No telling, bro,” Prograis said on who he might fight next. “Really for me, there’s no telling at all. Whoever it is, I’m just gonna train hard. I’mma defend my belt, I’mma fight who they tell me to fight.”