Regis Prograis Confirms That He Has Received His 7-Figure Purse In Full For Zepeda Fight
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BY KEITH IDEC
Published Thu Dec 01, 2022, 05:05 PM EST
It took some sorting out, but Regis Prograis has been paid in full for his 11th-round knockout win against Jose Zepeda on Saturday night.
Prograis confirmed in a video posted to his Twitter account Thursday that he has received his $1,080,000 guarantee and his $240,000 bonus for winning from promoters of the event. Prograis revealed Wednesday morning on Twitter that the seven-figure check he deposited Monday bounced for insufficient funds.
Representatives for other boxers who fought Saturday night in Carson, California, including Zepeda, indicated later Wednesday that they had been paid in full. It took a little longer to pay Prograis, who won the then-vacant WBC super lightweight title by beating Zepeda, but Prograis seemed satisfied in the aforementioned video that the matter was behind him, promoter MarvNation and Legendz Entertainment, which provided the financial backing for the five-fight pay-per-view event Prograis and Zepeda headlined.
“All right, so I know it been a lotta talk lately over the payday and all that stuff,” Prograis said. “I just wanna clarify, I’m good. I got all of my bread right now, so I’m straight. You know, I just wanna thank the promoters. I wanna thank MarvNation. I wanna thank Legendz TV for getting me right. So, shout out to y’all. We good. We squared away now. I got my money. I got my bread. We all good. Thank y’all.”
The 33-year-old Prograis understandably was less than thrilled Wednesday.
“I deposited my fight check Monday while I was in LA,” Prograis wrote in a Tweet. “Today the bank emailed me saying the check bounced because of insufficient funds. Somebody better find out what’s going on before I click the f--- out.”
Prograis’ problem sounded alarms throughout the industry because MarvNation never promoted an event of this magnitude and Legendz Entertainment made its debut in the boxing business Saturday night.
MarvNation, a small promotional company based in Southern California, sent shockwaves through the industry when it won a purse bid August 30 to earn the right to promote Prograis-Zepeda.
Its $2.4 million bid was nearly twice as much as the second-highest offer of $1,260,050 made by TGB Promotions. Probellum, Prograis’ promoter, bid $1,060,000, and Zanfer Promotions, Zepeda’s co-promoter, submitted an offer of $1,004,500.
Legendz Entertainment’s Dylan Marer, a 35-year veteran of the event production and entertainment industries, provided the financial backing for the bid. Marer’s partner, MarvNation’s Marvin Rodriguez, was the promoter of record, however.
The California State Athletic Commission required MarvNation to show proof of funds before it moved forward with this pay-per-per-view show at Dignity Health Sports Park. As per WBC rules, MarvNation previously deposited the win bonus of $240,000 in an escrow account soon after it won the purse bid.
Because the number one-ranked Zepeda (36-3, 28 KOs, 2 NC) and the second-ranked Prograis (28-1, 24 KOs) fought for a vacant championship, the WBC put 10 percent of the winning bid aside for the winner. Zepeda and Prograis were guaranteed $1,080,000 apiece, regardless of the result.
Prograis, of Katy, Texas, became a two-time 140-pound champion. The New Orleans native won the WBC belt Josh Taylor, the only opponent who has beaten Prograis, gave up earlier this year.