Former WBA 140-lb champion Regis Prograis will be facing #11Tyrone McKenna in the chief support bout on March 19th on the undercard of IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards vs. Muhammad Waseem at the Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai.
Prograis (26-1, 22 KOs) says the reason he’s fighting McKenna (22-2-1, 6 KOs) is that the British fighter has been trash-talking him on Twitter.
Boxing fans would have preferred that Prograis fight a higher-caliber opponent, but unfortunately, the former WBA light welterweight champion hasn’t fought a quality guy since 2019.
The 33-year-old Prograis finds himself fighting on Edwards’ undercard mainly because he hasn’t kept himself in the limelight since losing his WBA light welterweight title to Josh Taylor in October 2019.
Prograis has fought only once a year since his loss to Taylor, beating Juan Heraldez in 2020 and Ivan Redkach in 2021.
If Prograis continues with his habit of fighting yearly, his fight with the 31-year-old McKenna on March 19th will be his only activity in 2022.
Prograis won’t be getting another title shot for many years at this pace. Fighting once a year against lesser opposition has resulted in Prograis not being moved up the 140-lb rankings the way he needs to get another title shot.
Prograis is ranked #3 WBC, #6 WBA, and #7 WBO. While that may seem like good rankings, it’s not when you realize that Prograis lost his WBA title three years ago in 2019.
By this time, Prograis should already have been in a position to fight for a world title, but he’s not stayed busy enough since his fight with Taylor.
Whether he’s been enjoying the money he made from the Taylor fight or hasn’t had the desire to fight two to three years a year is unknown. It’s too bad because it’s a shame to see Prograis wasting his once-promising career with him fighting annually like Gary Russell Jr.
“I just got the good news. The fight date has been announced on March 19th in Dubai,” said Regis Prograis on social media on Tuesday in revealing his next fight against 31-year-old McKenna.
“A lot of people ask me when is my next fight date? Well, guess what, here it is. March 19th in Dubai. That’s two months away. All my people that want to come out there, get your s*** together.
“Get your tickets, get everything. Get your passports, tickets, vaccines, cards, whatever you need to get. Get your s*** together. Look, I’ve been to Dubai, Dubai is a long way away, but it’s 100% worth it when you get there, for sure.
“Fight or not fight; it’s 100% worth it when you get to Dubai. So, on March 19th in Dubai. The dude I’m fighting [Tyrone McKenna], he’s been talking a little s*** online, on Twitter, so I’m about to go over there and punish his a**.
“So all my people, y’all come out, show love and come support on March 19th in Dubai,” said Prograis.
McKenna is coming off a 10 round decision win over Jose Felix last August. In McKenna’s fight before that, he lost to Ohara Davies by a 10 round majority decision in September 2020.
McKenna’s only other career loss came against Jack Catterall in a 10 round unanimous decision defeat in June 2018.
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