Let em rip: Jose Zepeda vs. Regis Prograis

“Zepeda can’t let me hit him too much in this fight if he’s trying to set traps. If I can find him, I don’t think it’s going to be good for him. I don’t fight to box; I fight to hurt people. In my last three fights, I didn’t get hit, and I got all three knockouts.”

Regis Prograis

Both of us have a lot of knockouts, true punching power. I’m getting ready for hell because I know it’s going to be that type of fight.

Jose Zepeda

These guys can punch.

50 knockouts in 62 fights. 

Regis Prograis is a former world champion. Jose Zepeda has been challenged for championship honors twice but came up (arguably) short. 

Prograis has stopped his last three opponents. 

Zepeda knocked out cocky Josue Vargas last year in the blink of an eye. 

In 2020, for five rounds, Zepeda went to war with Ivan Baranchyk. The fight was intense, brutal, and thrilling. Zepeda was floored four times but got up and knocked Baranchyk out. 

Three years ago, Prograis traveled across the pond to fight Josh Taylor in the World Boxing Super Six finals and dropped a hard-fought split decision. A rematch was expected but never materialized. 

Prograis fought some and waited more. Finally, a fight against Zepeda was announced. The fact that it’s for a world title pleases Prograis. 

“This is a dream come true for me because I wanted to stay at one hundred forty and become a two-time world champion,” said Prograis at a press conference announcing the fight two months ago. “My last three fights were against ‘okay’ opposition, but this is the fight to show that I’m elite.”

The venue is Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, CA–a place that has witnessed some of the most exciting fights in the last several years. 

It will always be a mystery why the relatively small venue (renamed numerous times) has hosted so many boxing classics. I’ve often wondered if the outside arena, somewhat reminiscent of the gladiator days in Rome, brings out the extreme warrior in fighters. 

I expect the same this Saturday night. 

I favor Prograis to win inside the distance.