“I know my name doesn’t ring like an Adrien Broner or those big names, but I’m way better than them. I don’t have the star power yet, but I know the potential I got and I know what I can do in the ring. I know I’m dangerous and people don’t want to fight me. It’s a problem, but it’s a good problem... We going to keep rocking in 2018 and I’m going to keep coming. You will hear my name and the grind won’t stop until I get the belt, and when I get the belt, hopefully I can be a fighting champion,” stated jr. welterweight contender Regis Prograis, who talked about his upcoming showdown with former champion Viktor Postol. Check it out!
PC: Your last fight was in June, but man, you live in the gym.
RP: I stay in the gym, dog. I’m in the gym all the time. Training is training for me. I haven’t started training camp officially yet, because the fight wasn’t official yet, but now that it is, we will be starting official camp soon. I travel a lot and all that, but everywhere I go, I find a gym and I stay in it. I’ve been getting some good sparring. I just finished sparring. I was determined for nobody to catch me slipping. I’m right here as a mandatory for a belt, so I stay in the gym and stay training.
PC: You knocked out Joel Diaz, a fighter who was 23-0, in 2-rounds. I’m sure after that type of performance in June, you didn’t expect that to be your last outing of the year.
RP: I didn’t think the inactivity would be this bad because right after that victory, my name just really blew up. My name was all over the place as far as boxing goes. I didn’t expect that, but as far as the performance making people not want to fight me, I knew that was going to happen. That’s kind of been happening for me for a long time. I’m high risk and low reward. That’s been my problem for so long. But, the way my name blew up, I didn’t expect for it to happen that fast. It was overnight basically.
PC: I know one of your favorite fighters, if not your favorite fighter, is Marvin Hagler. You are southpaw like Hagler and unless fighters absolutely have to fight you, it seems like they won’t. Is that the feeling you’re getting as well?
RP: Yeah, of course. That’s why they make mandatory challengers because of people like me. They mandate these title shots because of people like me. I know my name doesn’t ring like an Adrien Broner or those big names, but I’m way better than them. I don’t have the star power yet, but I know the potential I got and I know what I can do in the ring. I know I’m dangerous and people don’t want to fight me. It’s a problem, but it’s a good problem.
PC: You were the guy to watch on all of the 2018 lists, but you know like me, without the opportunities, those lists mean very little, so this Viktor Postol fight was critical.
RP: Exactly! Yeah, I know that, and I know you can call out people all you want. I’ve been calling out Adrien Broner for, shit, like 4 years now. My name don’t make no money, so my name don’t make no noise, but I know the boxing people know me. Somebody like Adrien Broner don’t have boxing fans behind him, but he got the hip hop community behind him. He is a big name in the sport of boxing; a big name period. You can do all this and call out people on Twitter and IG and all that, but at the end of the day, them dudes don’t have to fight you; it’s boxing. Most of these dudes don’t want to fight me, so I’m glad Viktor stepped up.
PC: Your fan base is in Texas and Louisiana and at some point, you would think being so visible in two states, that would eventually come together and your popularity will take off. Is that what you are depending on as well as what you do in the ring?
RP: Yes, definitely. I always talk about Hurricane Katrina and no matter where I’m living at, New Orleans will always be my home, but I live in Houston now for boxing. Home for me and where my family is will always be New Orleans. Ain’t nobody going nowhere and that’s where I’m rooted at, but for boxing, it’s Houston. Houston is my home for boxing. I have two different homes. If I keep winning, eventually both of those cities are going to come together and get behind me.
PC: What has been your motivation to continuously train and stay in the gym while waiting for this opportunity to fight Postol?
RP: I honestly love training and I love boxing. I’m a student of the game, I’m a historian, and I just know about fighting. I study the old school guys like Joe Gans, Ray Robinson, and Henry Armstrong. The best way to get better at boxing is to box. I try to stay sparring. I wasn’t going really, really hard where it would damage me over the long run, but it was some light sparring. I was sparring without headgear with 8oz. gloves on. My pahtnas I let where 8oz gloves and I just work on my IQ and work on my eyes. But to answer your question, I know where I’m at and I can’t get caught slipping. As far as my motivation, it’s just me. I love being in the gym every day. This gym we are at Main Boxing Gym in Downtown Houston, I’m pretty sure we have the best gym in Houston. We have so much work, especially around my weight. We got work from 122 to heavyweight. Every day it’s just something I enjoy and I just feel home when I’m at the gym. I love training and I love being around all my gym mates.
PC: It’s one of those things to where you said 2016 is going to be my year, then 2017 and obviously the opportunities just didn’t come even after your spectacular win. Do you feel this will be the year for you?
RP: I just hope so, man. Really, 2017 was supposed to be the year for me. Like you said, in 2016, everybody was like, “Yeah, in 2017 it’s going to be your year.” So I never know because anything can happen. In 2016, I got hurt. I was out for 9 months. I was still in the gym training that whole 9 months, but I got hurt, so it’s some things like that that you can’t control. So hopefully I stay healthy and I don’t get hurt and 2018 should be a good year for me.
PC: You spent some time out in Brazil last year as well, showing some MMA guys some boxing stuff and letting them show you some MMA stuff. What was that experience like for you?
RP: I loved it. Brazil is like another home away from home. My wife is Brazilian. All of the people are all real cool with me. I was out there training. I went to Pedro Rizzo’s gym. He was one of the pioneers of the early UFC days; vale tudo. It was real cool, man. The people out there are real humble and real nice people. I like it out there and most likely I’ll probably buy a house out there within the next 2 years or something like that.
PC: I’m not sure if you were serious or not, but you hinted at potentially taking a fight in MMA with some more training. Were you being serious or just having some fun?
RP: It depends. Man, boxers get paid so much more. The boxing checks way better than the MMA checks, so it all depends. At the end of the day, it’s all about the money, so if somebody offered me a real big contract to go do that, then yeah, but right now, I don’t see myself doing it. I think a MMA fighter will make more money coming into boxing than a boxer would going over there. There is way more money in boxing than MMA. I like to do it and stuff, but I’m not gonna lie, I’m not into the grappling stuff. I’m not into being on another man or another man on top of me sweaty; it just don’t do it for me. A lot of them can do it and stuff like that, but for me, I’d rather box.
PC: Tell us about this Postol fight, my man.
RP: I feel like Postol was the best fight. It was supposed to be him. We were supposed to fight him next, the WBC mandated it, and it’s happening and I’m happy about that. It seemed like their side was kind of slow on things, but I’m ready to fight. The last year, I fought 2 fights. I fought in February and June and I went 3 rounds; 3 rounds in a whole year. Now I got in more rounds in the gym, but only 3 rounds in an actual ring in a whole year. It didn’t seem like he was rushing to fight me or maybe it’s his people, but I’m glad they accepted and it’s on in March. I want the belt and for me, the politics of it…it’s not fair that Amir Imam and Jose Ramirez is fighting for the vacant title. That’s definitely not fair. I’m #2, Amir Imam is #1. How did he get to #1? I don’t know because he got knocked out by Adrian Granados and then after that, he fought nobodies, but he’s still #1. And then you got Jose Ramirez, who I think is ranked #3 or #4 and he’s fighting Imam for the belt. Of course everybody know that I should be fighting for the belt. It’s politics, but there are politics in everything. Eventually the cream will always rise to the top. I know my time is coming and once I get the belt, I’m going to hold on to it.
PC: I look forward to the Postol fight in March. Best of luck with your training and we will definitely get some camp updates from you. Is there anything else you want to add?
RP: We going to keep rocking in 2018 and I’m going to keep coming. You will hear my name and the grind won’t stop until I get the belt, and when I get the belt, hopefully I can be a fighting champion. I know everybody say they are going to be a fighting champion and they don’t, but it’s not their fault. It’s a business side of boxing and that’s the worst part. Even Mike Tyson used to say the easiest part of fighting is fighting. The business side is the hard part of things because you gotta wait on these businessmen to make these decisions and we are in the gym waiting on a fight and we just wait for these top businessmen to make these decisions. I remember Errol [Spence] saying he wanted to be a fighting champion and he just fought again since winning the title against Kell Brook a while ago. Even if you’re a champion, it’s hard. The business side is not just a problem with contenders like myself, it’s a problem with champions as well. You look at Errol Spence and shit; he couldn’t get a fight for a long time. Back in the day, fighters had hundreds of fights and 80 fights. Now, a fighter may retire with 40 fights. That’s the frustrating part of it, especially for somebody like myself who is always in the gym, and I know the history of the sport and I love this sport; you still gotta wait on the businessmen to make the decisions when we just wanna fight.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]