In a lackluster fight, WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) beat substitute opponent Danielito Zorrilla (17-2, 13 KOs) by a twelve round split decision in the headliner on DAZN in front of booing, restless crowd at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The judges scored 117-110, 118-109 for Prograis, and 114-113 for Zorrilla. It appeared that Zorrilla did enough to deserve the victory, but he was fighting in Prograis’ hometown and the movement that he used wasn’t ideal to unseat the champion.
Prograis got a taste of Zorrilla’s power early on, getting dropped with a beautiful right hand straight down the pipe in round one. The referee was asleep at the wheel and didn’t score it as a knockdown for Zorrilla as he should have.
In the third, Prograis knocked Zorrilla with a left hand to the head in one of the rare instances in which Regis was willing to risk getting countered by the powerful Puerto Rican puncher.
Zorrilla circled the ring from fourth on, making it almost impossible for Prograis to land his punches. However, there were many times in each round when Prograis had opportunities to land shots against Zorrilla, but he wouldn’t pull the trigger.
Prograis’ hesitance to throw is partly a product of the new cautious style that he’s adopted in his recent fights.
He’s gone from being a slugger, which worked well for him all but one fight, to being a boxer, and he thinks too much inside the ring now. Zorrilla took advantage of that tonight by outboxing Prograis and making him look really bad.
The 34-year-old Prograis struggled to cut off the ring on Zorrilla to close the distance, turning the fight into a mostly long-range affair.
Zorrilla, a highly skilled fighter with excellent power & size, had Prograis confused all night with his movement, fast hands, and superb power.
