A Fight For The Ages: Josh Taylor vs Regis Prograis

A Fight For The Ages: Josh Taylor vs Regis Prograis

By Oliver McManus

A fight for the ages; for dreamers, idealists and purists. Regis Prograis vs Josh Taylor was a super fight in every sense of the word. That was before a punch had been thrown. London’s O2 Arena was transformed into a gladiatorial pit and, 12 rounds later, the pair were ingrained in the heavy history of boxing folklore.

The two southpaws were fidgety over the opening stages as they shuffled and feinted. An intriguing rare case of southpaw vs southpaw prompted a battle of tactical wit. They mirrored one another to begin with and exchanged jabs; Prograis planted his feet and was more vindictive with his early punches.

Taylor remained an even player in the contest and chipped away at the American – continuing to stride forward and take the fight at close range. Rougarou was imposing his stupidly strong frame on the Scottish fighter with a particularly crisp looping right hook as he dipped the knees. Both men’s confidence progressively grew and shots began to land with more purchase. The visitor was getting more adventurous but Taylor replied with well-executed fundamentals. This really was as evenly matched as anticipated.

At the halfway point the contest remained on an even kilter; Prograis continued to look physically sturdy in the wake of Taylor’s silky ringcraft. Oftentimes it resembled shadow boxing in the mirror – such were the stylistic similarities.

Prograis’ jab was outstanding and at one point protruded Taylor’s guard on three quick occasions. The Tartan Tornado responded with a storm of pressure in the 7th as he built an air of confidence. His jab was exceptional, too, and was flicked from the hip with ease. His arms were freer, his shoulders were loose and his intentions abundantly clear; exchange in the pocket.

Blood was drawn from the nose of Prograis and Taylor’s erudite jab could not miss. The Scotsman, in turn, suffered a nasty cut to the eye that began to close as rounds went by.

Into the 9th and still it was near impossible to separate the fighters. Prograis packed that extra bravado and looked to be more eye-catching with his work. Taylor remained true as the two unfurled HELL at the centre of the ring.

Prograis’ head movement on the inside was sublime as he continually rolled onto the neck of his opponent. The pugnacious Scotsman was swift with his hands and creative with the angles to counter fire with fire. An elegant fire, though, carefully carried by an Autumnal breeze not some uncontrollable blaze at the mercy of its master.

These 12 rounds were the perfect case study for purist pugilism. Enthralling, captivating, beautiful boxing. THE sweet science of boxing. 114-114, 115-113, 117-112 by majority decision to Josh Taylor who becomes IBF, WBA, WBC Diamond, The Ring and WBSS champion.

The Undercard:

Dereck Chisora and David Price met in an all-British heavyweight clash that you wish could have happened six, seven years ago. Instead it was a half-cooked ‘co-feature’ tainted with dreams of yesteryear. When you’ve got two heavyweight sluggers in the ring it’s always going to be entertaining and it certainly was.

Chisora marauded forward from the off in typical fashion and there was immediately a tangible difference between the two. Chisora was throwing handfuls of punches to push Price back whilst the Liverpudlian was satisfied with less frequent, well-placed shots. There was confidence to Price – at least that’s what it looked like.

That confidence didn’t last particularly long with Chisora coming on strong in the second. Big overhand rights forced Price to lean back and soften the blow with his hand. There was frequent ferocity coming Price’s with Chisora much the aggressor – good, short shots to the body. The elder statesman lived up to his ‘WAR’ moniker and dug deep in the final thirty seconds of the third with clubbing, bludgeoning shots. Price was hurt.

The fourth round saw Chisora continue his campaign of aerial terror with wicked overhand rights. He was invoking memories off Alexander Povetkin’s ruthless rampage over Price and, so it followed, Price dropped to the canvas with a minute to go. The towel came in with Chisora set to paste his challenger – a mercy call and one much needed. Once Chisora landed clean the confidence from Price evaporated and Chisora was able to up the out-put. Dereck Chisora TKO4 David Price to become WBO Intercontinental champion.

Lee Selby and Ricky Burns produced a free-moving and lively contest as they rolled back the years.

Selby boxed clockwise and flicked the jab as his feet crossed over in order to keep the contest mobile. The Welshman was light on his feet and that helped with Burns wanting to start fast and gain a foothold; no dallying but an eagerness to cut the gap and ‘get involved’.

The younger man, Selby, was quicker to the punch and looking fresh at 135lbs – a new weight, only his second contest at lightweight, and seemingly a new lease of life. A loose left caught him on the cheek but, for the early stages, Burns was over-swinging. The Scottish fighter was looking to detonate from the off but couldn’t find his range.

Composure was forthcoming from Selby with a classier body of work and slick counter punches coupled with his elusive movement. The long serving, distinguished servant of Scottish boxing showed no sign of rethinking his approach and he would frequently seek to land a right hand over the top of Selby’s ‘in your face’ jab. Burns was willing to fight from the balls of his feet and was giving as good as he got.

Indeed gritty attacks from Burns were consistent as he remained astute in his reflexes. Selby just seemed to have his nose ahead, in the first half of the fight, as he was quicker to hit a rhythm. There were a bit of afters following the fifth round with Burns retaliating to a punch momentarily after the bell. That seemed to stoke some spite into the three-time world champion.

Burns came on strong in the second half with a particularly pleasing 7th round in which he remained fresh and drew into Selby into the middle of the ring. He was getting better as the fight went on and, visibly, moved through the motions.

An intense 11th round highlighted Burns’ tenacity as he overcame the initial flashiness of Selby. This was a 50-50 contest on paper and it proved to be so in the ring. Burns leathered one to the ribs of his opponent in the final 15 seconds to ensure lasting memories for Selby on the trip back to Wales. 115-115, 116-112, 116-113 by majority decision to Lee Selby who moves to 28-2 (2-0 as a lightweight).

Photo Credit: Matchroom Boxing