Regis Prograis has ruled out the prospect of Saturday’s fight with Conor Benn being his last as a professional.
They fight at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, on the undercard of Tyson Fury-Arslanbek Makhmudov, and in a reflection of how unlikely their match-up is will do so at a catchweight of 150lbs.
Prograis, the 37-year-old two-time junior-welterweight champion, had his defining fight against Josh Taylor in 2019 in the same city in the final of the World Boxing Super Series, when Benn, eight years his junior, stopped Steve Jamoye on the undercard.
If he then appeared at his peak he has most recently lost two of his past three fights and, on the occasion of those defeats – to the masterful Devin Haney and then Jack Catterall – struggled to impress.
That it continues to be reported that Benn, the mandatory challenger to the WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia, will be paid in the region of $15m for Saturday’s contest is a further reflection of the reality that Prograis has been chosen as his opponent to continue to enhance Benn’s growing profile, but even after 33 fights Prograis doesn’t see it that way, and continues to insist that retirement is far off.
“I don’t think this is gonna be my last fight,” he told BoxingScene. “You always go in there and never know what’s gonna happen. It could be – anything could happen, because you go in there and leave a part of yourself in the ring. But I don’t think so. After this it’s probably go to 147 and fight at 147. After this there’s gonna be some big, big stuff knocking at my door.
“I just truly enjoy boxing. I set myself up financially for everything – I’m good. I just love it. I wouldn’t even know what to do with myself if I didn’t fight. Even when I’m talking about it it gets me more motivated. If I didn’t box, would I wake up every day, put my kids on a bus and watch TV all day? I just like to push myself and enjoy going to the gym and sparring and being around fighters.
“This is not about money. I have nine different streams of income. But boxing’s the best one, for sure. Boxing money’s very good, but it’s not just about money. I just love it. The crowd; the show; the fight; even getting hit with 8oz [gloves] on.
“I have real estate – a few houses in New Orleans – I do my stocks. I loan money. Luxury car rentals in Houston. I have other stuff going on.
“[I’m fighting to be] three-time champion. That’s something I do wanna do. I wanna be a three-time champion. At first I wanted it to be at 140, ‘cause it’s never been done. I still can make 140, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to kill my body. This fight I’m going to feel way more confident ‘cause I don’t have to cut so much weight. I can lift and get bigger without feeling like I have to get back to 140 again.
“This is a great opportunity. I went to the Ryan Garcia fight – that could have been a good thing but Ryan’s gonna be out for a while, ‘cause he just fought – and maybe Oscar Duarte could have been out there for me, but this is actually way bigger. This is bigger scale; bigger everything.
“I don’t want to fight at 140 no more. My plan was to go up to 147. When they said Conor Benn’s name I was like ‘Man, let’s do it’. We had the deal done in two or three days. They said 150. ‘I never even fought at 147 before. Well what about rehydration clause?’ ‘No he ain’t doing that.’ I still like the fight, no matter what. ‘Let’s get a few more dollars ‘cause he ain’t doing the rehydration clause, but let’s not lose the fight.’”
Prograis last fought in the UK on the night of his narrow defeat by the retired Taylor. The reputation of officiating there has since worsened – partly on account of the first fight between Taylor and Catterall, and most recently because of Deontay Wilder-Derek Chisora and the way that it was refereed.
“I’m really not worried about [the judging],” Prograis said, despite Benn being from London. “As far as the Taylor fight, that was a close thing – I should have won that fight, but still, it was a close fight. As far as Conor Benn, I just don’t see him being on my level. I don’t want to say way better, but I’m better. It’s gonna be live on Netflix, so if they don’t do the right thing, the whole world will see it, so I’m not really worried about it. I know I’m better than Conor Benn – that’s it. The Taylor fight, I was number one, he was number two, in the world. He was a very good fighter. With Conor Benn, I just know that it’s different levels and I wanna prove that. Way more people will be watching than the Taylor fight, so they’ll get it right.
“He’s an okay fighter. I don’t think he’s good. But I don’t think he’s that bad either. A C-level fighter. He’s an okay fighter.
“He’s strong and aggressive, but you look at my resume, you look at his resume – it’s not the same at all. He hasn’t had a knockout since 2022. The last knockout was Chris van Heerden, when we have an argument he was on the stuff [having twice later tested positive for the banned substance clomifene]. I beat way better people; fought with better people; been world champion two times and he’s never been there before. I don’t see [him ever becoming world champion]. I’m way better. He [also] doesn’t have the experience.
“Taylor was way better. Probably the best I’d fought. Josh Taylor was a world-level fighter; an undisputed world champion. Two totally different people.”
Prograis started to rebuild in August with his points victory over Joseph Diaz. That fight was his first under his new trainer Kay Koroma, who he works under in Las Vegas, following a career spent fighting out of Houston under Bobby Benton.
He believes that he overtrained for the occasion and that he is increasingly benefitting from the increased weight, regardless of Benn having most recently fought at middleweight.
Above all else, despite the extent to which he represents the underdog, he insists that he does not “fear” retirement and that – even having flirted with the idea after the defeat by Catterall – he will know when the time has come for him to stop.
“I’m not fearful,” he said. “When it happens, it happens – something else is gonna be calling me. Just, right now is not the time.
“I know it’s gonna be a tough transition. Josh Taylor had to retire because of his eye, and he said how awful it was, and I know it is. I saw, not just with Josh Taylor, but Oscar De La Hoya, and Mike Tyson, and all these guys. Roy Jones. They say how hard it is to retire ‘cause they’ve been doing it their whole life. When you just stop it, you gotta find something else to do with yourself. I’ve been doing it about 20 years, and working towards boxing the whole time – for 20 years, that’s what I’ve been loving. But when it’s time, I will have the peace from retiring. I’ll do something else and can put my skills towards something else. I love boxing; I love being in the gym. I don’t see myself being a trainer or coach because you still have to be in the gym all day long. I have my kids and stuff and want to be more around my kids [son Ray, 12, and daughters Khalessi, nine, and Khalanni, five] but I still love being in the gym. I’ll figure out what I’ll do next after that but for me it’s just not the time. I love it. It’s hard to get away from. I love competing.
“I can still take big shots. Maybe it’s a good thing; maybe it’s a bad thing. I can still take real big shots. I’ve been sparring big old dudes – Shawn Porter the other day. He’s big.
“When God tells me it’s time, it’s time to move on and do something else. God willing, everything is going to happen the way it’s supposed to happen. I can’t wait to show what I’ve been working on and what the extra weight did to me too.”
Declan Warrington has been writing about boxing for the British and Irish national newspapers since 2010. He is also a long-term contributor to Boxing News, Boxing News Presents and Talksport, and formerly the boxing correspondent for the Press Association, a pundit for BoxNation and a regular contributor to Boxing Monthly, Sport and The Ring, among other publications. In 2023, he conducted the interviews and wrote the script for the audio documentary “Froch-Groves: The Definitive Story”; he is also a member of the BWAA.
