Regis Prograis Blasted Al Haymon/PBC – Then BackPeddled

Former WBA World Jr. Welterweight Champ Regis Prograis apparently has a marquee fight on the horizon with former Unified Lightweight king, Mikey Garcia. However, on Monday he stirred some controversy by blaming Al Haymon and his Premier Boxing Champions for not getting him a better fight sooner.

Then, Prograis backed off.

First, Prograis was a guest on the “DAZN Boxing Show” Monday and here’s the gist of his criticism of having signed on for a single fight, as a free agent with PBC last Fall,

Regis Prograis on his PBC Relationship 'I Was promised the Barrios fight for that belt (WBA Regular). Barrios said he could not make 140 and had to go up. Then I heard he was fighting Davis. We were promised Adrian Broner. None of the promises Al Haymon made us came true.' pic.twitter.com/aw0LVbbz4B

— EverythingBoxing (@EverythingBoxi2) July 12, 2021

Prograis, 26-1, telling the show, “I was promised the Barrios fight for that belt (WBA Regular). Barrios said he could not make 140 and had to go up. Then I heard he was fighting Davis. We were promised Adrian Broner. None of the promises Al Haymon made us came true.”

Clearly, when Prograis divorced himself from former promoter Lou Dibella last year, he was hoping to get a large fight with a significant pay day from somewhere else. And, coming off the Covid 19 shutdown of the sport last March-June, Prograis was eager to accept a chance to be on PBC’s October show in San Antonio, TX.  That card featured Gervonta Davis kayoing Leo Santa Cruz in the main event, and Prograis clobbered Juan Heraldez for a TKO to solidify his standing.

However, that never led to a fight with Mario Barrios (Davis got that fight, as Prograis mentioned), Adrien Broner or anyone else for the fighter known as “Rougarou.” So, he subsequently did another “one off” free agent deal to fight on the Triller “Fight Club” PPV in Atlanta back in May.

And, that’s when Prograis won, again by TKO this time over Ivan Redkach (photo top) in a fight that had been ruled a technical decision, but was eventually changed to stoppage by the Georgia Boxing Commission.

So, Prograis appeared to be on the verge of some kind of meaningful fight.

But, unfortunately, it won’t be against the man who handed him his only pro defeat- Scotsman Josh Taylor. Taylor beat Prograis by 12 round decision to add the WBA strap to his IBF belt in October 2019. Since then, Taylor has now also beaten Jose Ramirez by decision for the other two 140 lb. belts.

So, instead of the Prograis rematch, Taylor must defend against mandatory challenger Jack Catterall.

And, obviously that’s led to some frustration for the Louisiana native Prograis.

Later Monday night, he tried to do damage control and released a statement to ESPN apologizing for what he says were comments “taken out of context.”

Statement from @RPrograis to ESPN: “My comments were taken out of context in the tweets posted online about Al Haymon. In the actual interview I was just frustrated that the (Mario) Barrios and Adrian Broner fights never presented themselves. … “ (Continued)

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) July 13, 2021

Prograis’ statement went on to say,  “the truth is the one fight I worked on with Al I had a great experience; I never meant to offend anyone and I apologize if I did.”

So, the “apology train” has left the station.

Meanwhile, the Mikey Garcia bout hasn’t officially been announced, but should be on DAZN and promoted by Matchroom Boxing. And, a win would legitimize Prograis further.

More importantly as it relates to PBC, if Taylor gets by his winnable mandatory later this year, then Prograis off a Garcia win, would be a great theoretical next fight for both. And, Taylor’s promotional deals are with Top Rank Boxing and MTK Global and not PBC.

So, Prograis can get the shot at his belts without having to grovel about it further.