WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) says his opponent Danielito Zorrilla (17-2, 13 KOs) was just running around all night instead of standing and fighting last Saturday night at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans/
Before last night’s contest, Prograis had never faced a runner like Zorrilla, and he wasn’t prepared for the type of mobility that he saw in that fight.
In looking at Zorrilla’s fight last year against Arnold Barboza Jr, he was stationary, trading shots with the unbeaten Top Rank-promoted fighter the entire night, and came close to beating.
The difference in that bout was the combination punching of Barboza and his fearlessness to let his hands go. Barboza looked worlds better against Zorrilla than Prograis did and showed that he’s a better fighter than him. Barboza Jr is just a contender, which shows you how well-stocked Top Rank is at 140.
Against Prograis, Zorrilla chose to move three minutes of every round, and it was effective but it didn’t please two of the judges. They scored it surprisingly wide for Prograis, 117-110, 118-109, while the third had Zorrilla winning 114-113.
Prograis’s inability to adapt and cut off the ring has to be problematic for his new promoter Eddie Hearn because he has hopes of matching him against one of these fighters next:
– Devin Haney
– Ryan Garcia
– Richardson Hitchins
Hearn might want to put the brakes on his idea of matching Prograis against any of those fighters until he learns to A. Cut off the ring, B. Throw more punches, C. Be more courageous
“I don’t see how they scored it for him. I don’t think it was close,” said Regis Prograis at the post-fight press conference, reflecting on his controversial win over Danielito Zorrilla. “I was frustrated. He was just running around.”
You hate to be the bearer of bad news for Prograis, but the fact is, the fight with Zorrilla was close, and he didn’t just run around the ring all night. Zorrilla often stood his ground, hitting the shorter Prograis with shots and appearing to win at least eight rounds of the fight.
Prograis should run it back against Zorrilla to clear up the controversy over the decision and show that he can learn from his numerous mistakes.
If all Prograis does in the rematch is throw more punches, that would be a major improvement because that was his biggest problem. Regis was like another Adrien Broner in how he failed to let his hands go against Zorrilla.
Could it be that at 34, Prograis is starting to show his age? It could be. Oftentimes fighters that reach their mid-30s have issues pulling the trigger on their punches, and that’s what we saw with Prograis last night.
