Regis Prograis has a chance to be a bigger star than ever.
The talented native of New Orleans was a hot commodity when he stepped into the ring to face Josh Taylor in a 140-pound title-unification bout but walked out with his first loss – by a majority decision — and a damaged reputation in 2019.
However, he bounced back by winning three consecutive fights to earn a meeting with Jose Zepeda for a vacant belt and won by 11th-round knockout to become a two-time champ last November.
And now comes arguably the biggest fight of his career: He is scheduled to defend his title against former undisputed 135-pound champ Devin Haney on pay-per-view Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco.
He says the setback against Taylor made him a better fighter.
“I’ve tasted defeat and frustration,” Prograis told The Guardian. “I’ve been in a locker room after I lost and never want to go back there again. When you taste failure, it makes you much stronger. Devin’s never had failure so it’s hard to know how he will react.
“So far he’s been winning but when it gets really hard on Saturday he could potentially fold.”
Yes, Prograis is confident even though he’s about a 3½-1 underdog to Haney (30-0, 15 KOs). He went so far as to predict a knockout when he spoke to members of the media at a work out in Los Angeles.
Then, the 34-year-old figures, he’ll finally realize the potential he seemed to have before the Taylor fight. He expects to replace Haney on pound-for-pound lists after he has his hand raised in victory Saturday night in Haney’s hometown.
“I’m going to whoop Devin Haney’s ass. And I’m going to be pound-for-pound at the top,” Prograis said.
Then he wants only big fights.
He would love a rematch with Taylor to avenge the loss but the Scot has moved up to 147 pounds. That means he’ll target the best remaining in a deep division, guys like Teofimo Lopez, Subriel Matias, Rolando Romero, Ryan Garcia and the rest.
“All I want now at this stage of my career is the big pay per view fights. That’s it,” Prograis said. He went on: “I want big fights. There are bigger fights than a Josh Taylor rematch. Personally, I want it. But business wise, there are bigger fights.”
First he must win the big fight on Saturday.
