It was an offer Regis Prograis couldn’t refuse.
The former junior welterweight titleholder surprised some observers this past fall when he linked up with the new promotional outfit Probellum, which is headed by former Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer.
Prograis says the company enticed him to a contract after promising three things.
“First promise is that I’mma fight three times in a year,” Prograis said on the Boxing With Chris Mannix podcast. “That’s what I want to be. I want to be active. Of course, we’re still waiting on our first fight, but I definitely want to be active. The second thing is that I’mma fight all around the world, and that’s something I’ve always wanted. That’s one of the reasons why I took the fight [against Josh Taylor] in London because I wanted to do, though I shouldn’t have. I want to fight all over the world. I want to be a world champion. My heroes were Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali — they were world champions, not just in your own country. And [Probellum] told me I would probably fight for a world title.
“And, of course, that’s three things I want: become two-time world champion, fight all over the world, and stay active. Since you told me I can do all those three things, it’s a no-brainer.”
Prograis (26-1, 22 KOs), who is originally from New Orleans but lives and trains out of Houston, has seen his productivity dwindle ever since losing a unification bout to Josh Taylor in 2019 as part of the World Boxing Super Series. In 2020, he cut ties with longtime promoter Lou DiBella.
In 2020, the southpaw Prograis fought once, earning a third-round stoppage over Juan Heraldez on the Gervonta Davis-Leo Santa Cruz undercard, which was produced by Premier Boxing Champions. In 2021, he fought Ivan Redkach, stopping him in the sixth round on the Triller undercard of Jake Paul-Ben Askren.
Prograis says one of the clauses in the Probellum contract will allow to engage in a big fight on another platform.
“That’s one of the things in the contract,” Prograis said. “If a big fight presents itself then I can go ahead and do that. Hopefully they can keep the promise of me being a world champion.
“Once I’m a world champion again, then I can kind of dictate, I can kind of control things. There won’t be too much politics. But I don’t have that power as much, since I don’t have a world champion.”