Regis Prograis has revealed that the prospect of fighting regularly out of New Orleans is what tempted him to Matchroom over Top Rank.
The WBC super lightweight champion, 34, on Saturday fights Puerto Rico's Danielito Zorrilla on the occasion of his first fight in his home city since 2018.
Their date at the Smoothie King Center also represents his first under Matchroom when, as one of the world’s most valuable unattached fighters, he agonised over offers from Top Rank and ESPN and Matchroom and DAZN before joining Eddie Hearn’s growing stable.
In agreeing terms with Matchroom he can also be expected to fight Jack Catterall – Josh Taylor, the only fighter ever to beat him, and Teofimo Lopez remain with Top Rank – and he said of Hearn: “He sunk the hook in me when he told me, ‘You’re gonna fight in New Orleans on June 17th at the Smoothie King Center’. He got me hyped up when he told me that.
“ESPN told me the same thing but they didn’t tell me everything like Eddie told me. To be fighting at the Smoothie King Center is a huge step up for me; it’s the basketball arena for our NBA team, the Pelicans. Just fighting in Smoothie King is something special. I won’t really enjoy that until after the fight is over.
“As a person that’s from there, and actually lived on the streets – you could see me in New Orleans all the time. The last person that fought there, that was from there, was Willie Pastrano, our last champion – that was in 1964.
“The biggest deciding factor was the dates. The first date with Top Rank would’ve been, I think, August, and the first date with Matchroom is June 17th. Obviously I wanna fight earlier. If I know I have a fight in August, I’m going to train the whole summer. With this June fight, at least I can fight, and then enjoy some time with my kids. My kids are on summer break, so I’d like to enjoy some time with my kids. As a professional fighter you miss a lot of stuff. I’ve missed my son’s birthday a few times because I had fights. You miss a lot of things. So if I fought in August I’d be missing that.”
After weeks of speculation while Prograis considered his two offers, his agreement with Matchroom was confirmed in the hours before Saul “Canelo” Alvarez defeated John Ryder last month in Guadalajara.
Prograis was ringside that night with his new promoter, who also then announced the signing of Cuba’s two-time Olympic gold medallist Andy Cruz. Hearn – who among others has also previously promoted Alvarez, Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk – then lauded Cruz as his greatest of all.
“I don’t care about it, man,” said Prograis, five years Zorrilla's senior. “Whatever. I’m not really worried about it. That’s what Eddie says. All I gotta do is keep fighting and go on to improve.
“I guess he’s excited about the Andy Cruz thing; maybe not excited about me. Whatever. I saw that, but I’m not worried about it, man.
“That’s what Eddie does; maybe that’s how he feels, but listen, I’m gonna go out there and just do what I gotta do. So, I wish Andy Cruz all the good luck and stuff like that, but I’m on my own path and I’m gonna do me.”
