WBC world super-lightweight champion Regis Prograis (28-1, 24KOs) may secure a powerful ally moving forward in the near future. Prograis recently announced that he was a promotional free agent following the expiry of his contract with the promotional firm, Probellum. It should also be noted that Probelum is also now defunct as a promotional company and ceased operations.
Bob Arum has spoken of his interest in seeking to promote Prograis if he can prove that he is an actual free agent and believes he is a terrific fighter when speaking to Steve Kim.
“If he demonstrates to us that he is a free agent—a real free agent—we’d be happy to put him in the mix, and to make fights for him. He’s a terrific fighter.”
If Prograis and Top Rank join forces moving forward, it will be a full circle of events between Prograis and Top Rank.
Earlier this year, Top Rank’s Jose Ramirez (28-1, 18KOs), turned down a title opportunity to face Prograis after believing he was entitled to more of a purse percentage split between the pair after the WBC ordered that particular fight. Ramirez felt he was a much larger commercial draw in comparison to Prograis, thus Ramirez removing himself from the ordered contest.
In addition, Bob Arum had also stated that he was unwilling to do business with anyone who is signed or linked to the former promotional entity Probellum. This was due to the company’s links to alleged Irish cartel leader Daniel Kinahan. This will support Arum’s desire to ensure that Prograis is an entirely free agent before moving forward with the WBC title holder.
Alongside Jose Ramirez, Top Rank has WBO world super-lightweight champion Josh Taylor, and Teofimo Lopez signed on its books, who compete in the 140lbs weight class. Taylor & Lopez will go head to head in New York on June 10th in what will be a WBO world title defence for Taylor.
