They put both fights on the same card I might have to consider flying out for this
The Fight Corner: Los Angeles is positioned to land a significant fight card
Los Angeles is positioned to land another significant fight card if the founders of the World Boxing Super Series embrace the wishes of their television partner, the streaming service DAZN.
Joe Markowski, DAZN’s executive vice president for North America, said at a Saturday meeting with reporters in New York that he’d like both of the two pending World Boxing Super Series’ tournament finales to be staged as part of a doubleheader in the U.S.
The junior-welterweight final is between New Orleans’ Regis Prograis (24-0, 20 knockouts) and Scotland’s Josh Taylor (15-0, 12 KOs) and the bantamweight finale pits unbeaten pound-for-pound talent Naoya Inoue (18-0, 16 KOs) versus veteran four-division champion Nonito Donaire (40-5, 26 KOs).
The bouts are expected to be staged by October.
As DAZN seeks more subscribers, Markowski said, “The merger of the two finals makes sense for us. It’s a bigger event, there’ll be stronger marketing. Naturally, the desire is to have it in the United States, and we’ll see what happens. We’re a key stakeholder and we’ve been vocal with them.”
Prograis’ promoter Lou DiBellaadded, “Josh Taylor’s fans will travel. I want to see it where it makes the most noise.”
Prograis says he saw “a lot of holes” in Taylor’s defense during the Scot’s home semifinal victory, and with an eye toward fully unifying the division and pursuing a welterweight dream match against former fully unified 140-pound Terence Crawford, he is training at Santa Monica’s Churchill Boxing Club.
He likes the idea of making the fight site “neutral,” and DiBella said, “as a big fan of the World Boxing Super Series … I think when you look at the quality of the matchups, it’s good stuff, but it’s not resonating enough … to make it resonate, you need to go someplace to get the worldwide press attention it deserves.
“If you put them together, it’s a gigantic show. Try to create something that transcends an ordinary fight card, at an arena full of people, with so much press attention.”
Inoue has been especially destructive in his recent work to elevate in the pound-for-pound rankings, and Prograis, with his World Boxing Assn. belt, envisions himself climbing the ranks while charming with his deep knowledge of the sport’s history and his interesting bravery outside the ring.
“I like swimming with sharks, chasing [baby] alligators, skydiving, riding dirt bikes 100 miles an hour with my shirt off – all of it,” Prograis said. “I guess it’s just the adrenaline that I like. I’ll be daring, but I’m smart. I won’t wrestle or swim with something that can truly kill me.”