boo..hoo
Prograis On Recent Mikey Garcia Loss: 'I Was The Biggest Loser; I Would Have Destroyed Mikey'
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BY SEAN NAM
Published Tue Dec 28, 2021, 08:24 AM EST
Regis Prograis is still smarting over missing out on what would have been a once-in-a-career opportunity.
For a time the Houston-based southpaw was involved in serious discussions to fight four-division champion Mikey Garcia. But Garcia decided to take a tune-up fight against unheralded Spaniard contender Sandor Martin this past October, only to lose by stunning majority decision: one judge had it a draw, while two others had Martin up 97-93.
“It was very frustrating,” Prograis said of being unable to make a fight with Garcia on the Boxing With Chris Mannix podcast. “I know Mikey. Me and Mikey was on Facetime together, he was saying he wants to fight me. But of course he wanted to get a tune-up so that’s why he fought a lefthander in Martin. But then he ended up losing.
“I think, for me, I was the biggest loser that night, for sure. I definitely think I would have destroyed Mikey that night, for sure. I think Mikey is a great fighter but that night he looked shot.”
“It just looked like his timing was off,” Prograis (26-1, 22 KOs) continued. “In a lot of his fights he’s a slow starter and he tries to time you with that big right hand. But he was throwing it, he couldn’t land it. About the seventh round, he needed a knockout. I think he hit [Marin] — in the seventh or eighth round — he hit him with a right hand that was kind of hard, but Sandor Martin was fine. So I said he probably isn’t going to knock him out.”
The 32-year-old Prograis has recently signed a deal with Probellum, a new promotional outfit headed by former Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer. He is hoping they can get him the sort of fights that have eluded him ever since dropping a close decision to unified 140-pound titleholder Josh Taylor in 2019.
“It’s just frustrating,” Prograis said. “I had so many big fights come up but they never came to fruition. The Mikey Garcia [fight] fell through, Adrien Broner, Gervonta Davis, Mario Barrios. All those fights my name was thrown around but nothing ever happened. It’s kind of just frustrating.”
Prograis still believes Garcia (40-2, 30 KOs) can mount a comeback.
“You don’t know if that’s going to be him for the rest of his career or if it was just that night,” Prograis said. “Sometimes that’s how it is in boxing. It’s a cruel sport. But a lot of greats came back. My favorite fighter is [Roberto] Duran. He kept coming back. Even Sugar Ray Leonard. They kept coming back. Maybe Mikey can come back. Or maybe he is done. We don’t know. We’ll see in his next fight or what his next move is going to be.”
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