Regis Prograis (28-1, 24 KO’s) became a world champion once more after defeating fellow American Jose Zepeda (35-3, 27 KO’s) by knockout in the eleventh round. Prograis thereby won the vacant WBC Super Lightweight title which was left vacant after Josh Taylor (19-0, 13 KO’s) relinquished his title citing difficulties in defending the title due to a recent marriage. The event was held on November 26th, at the Dignity Health Sports Park in California.
While Jose Zepeda and Jose Ramirez (27-1, 17 KO’s) were originally ordered to face off against one another, Ramirez eventually abstained from fighting due to his own marriage scheduled in October (the month he was supposed to face off against Zepeda), and the WBC subsequently ordered Regis Prograis to face off against Jose Zepeda instead. With Ramirez having been set to face the winner of Zepeda vs. Prograis, he is now expected to fight Prograis for his WBC Super Lightweight title.
The first round between the two Americans seemed to go widely in the favor of Zepeda. The rest of the match proved to be competitive but Prograis seemed to retake the majority of the rounds, even cutting Zepeda early in the second round of the fight. While Zepeda did often try to go forward, Prograis was technically-sound during the bout and warded off Zepeda’s attempts at coming inside the pocket with his jab and slick head – and body – movement. Prograis also virtually controlled the pace of the match with his ability to counter the majority of what Zepeda attempted to throw at him.
By the eleventh round, Prograis was ahead on the cards after many rounds of taking advantage of the cut that Zepeda suffered in the second round, and bringing his own developed technical skills and speed to the fray. After seemingly buzzing Zepeda with a surprising left hook, Prograis went for the kill and launched a set of punches that dropped Zepeda and plainly knocked him out.
Prograis now stands as the WBC’s Super Lightweight/Junior Welterweight champion, and will likely face off against Jose Ramirez in his first title defense. While Jose Zepeda will look to recover from his third overall career loss, Prograis can look forward to another clash with Josh Taylor – if he manages to beat whoever will be his next opponent – who still remains the WBO and IBF Super Lightweight champion. Josh Taylor previously defeated Regis Prograis in a unification bout at the final of the World Boxing Super Series, and Taylor went on to become undisputed following a bout against Jose Ramirez in 2021.
Yokasta Valle (27-2, 9 KO’s) and Evelin Bermudez (17-1-1, 6 KO’s) faced each other with the former moving up from the women’s Minimumweight division to face WBO and IBF world Junior Flyweight champion Bermudez. The two were well of a match against each other, but Valle seemed to take the championship rounds culminating in her eventually winning by majority decision.
Charles Conwell (18-0, 13 KO’s) – an American Lightweight contender – was also featured in the match and narrowly defeated his Dominican (Republic) opponent Juan Carlos Abreu (25-7-1, 23 KO’s) by majority decision after ten rounds and a cut he suffered in the first round of their fight (due to an accidental headbutt).
