Photo credit to MMAFighting.com
Regis Prograis on Ivan Redkach TKO at Triller’s Paul vs Askren
Regis Prograis scored a TKO victory over Ivan Redkach in the sixth round of their recent boxing bout. The prizefight took place as part of Triller Fight Club on Saturday, April 17th which was headlined by Jake Paul versus Ben Askren.
Prograis has three young kids and was getting in some quality family time as he decompresses from this victory whilst speaking with me.
Below are several excerpts from my recent conversation with Regis Prograis who emerged victorious from the most recent Triller co-feature bout.
Regis Prograis
His son getting to meet Justin Bieber at Triller Fight Club
“I’m so glad that he’s experiencing this stuff because one day when he’s like a grown man, he’ll be like, ‘bro, my dad was so fucking cool’. He’s gonna think like ‘damn, my dad did all this’. He got to meet Justin Bieber. He got to meet… Pete Davidson…So I mean it’s a good thing.”
The fight initially being ruled a decision win and subsequently being amended to a TKO victory
“I mean I was happy, bro. Because I mean if you watched it from home, and you wasn’t there, I was fucking yelling about that. I was like, ‘bro, give me my knockout. I want my knockout’. So when he went to the ground, I mean, his wife was cursing me out. She’s like ‘Oh fuck you’ and all this and they apologized. They’re nice people, I don’t want to get it wrong like they’re bad people, they’re actually nice… I’m arguing with the crowd and all kinds of stuff. A lot of chaos going on outside the ring because it was a very intimate fight.”
“Like everybody was very close. It’s kind of like being in the gym matter of fact. Everybody was real close to the ring…My manager, they worked on it. I found out the next day they gave me the knockout. I found out I think Sunday or Monday they gave me the knockout.”
Prograis vs Redkach
The close quarters, no fans in attendance dynamic feeling more like sparring in the gym
“Well it was comfortability just like you said, but is that a good thing in boxing? I don’t know. But it was definitely just being comfortable. It was just like sparring, it was just kind of like easy. It was very lenient, the whole event was very lenient…They told me to be at the arena for six o’clock right, and then I ended up walking to go to the ring at like 11:45 (PM).”
“So I mean, I’m in the dressing room for almost six hours, and just the whole time, it was just real lenient…It felt like just being in a gym. It didn’t really give you a real fight feel like it was a real fight. Because you didn’t have that crowd with that nervousness and stuff like that.”
Ben Askren vs Jake Paul
PBC or Triller for the next prizefight?
“I’m a free agent. So I can go anywhere, I can go anywhere I want to go right now…So if Triller wants to put on me with another fight, I’ll go with Triller. But if PBC comes with a better offer then I’ll go with PBC…I’m gonna chase the money, chase the biggest fights.”
The PBC roster at 147 pounds and his plans to hire a nutritionist to navigate future fights at 140 lbs
“The first thing is yeah like probably go to 147 over there. But I’m not going to ’47 right now. I want to stay at ’40. For me, I want to stay at 140 right now. So I don’t even know. I really can’t even say what I’m gonna do. I really don’t even know. You just never know how the landscape is gonna play in boxing. You never know what’s gonna happen. So I’m just kind of just taking it day by day and seeing what’s on the table for me.”
Triller Fight Club
Recapturing 140-pound gold, Regis Prograis eyeing a crown at 147 lbs, and the ideal next fight
“I definitely want to be a champion. If they give me the opportunity at 147, I’ll be a champion at 147 also. I just want to be a two-time champion. There’s just something in me. I want to be a champion again at 140. It’s just unfinished business. I feel like I still should be a champion right now, you know. That’s why I want to be a champion again. I still feel like I’m the best at 140 right now and I want to be a champion again.”
“So for me, a fight that I want is an Adrien Broner fight. I want to fight Adrien Broner.”
Predicting beforehand that Jake Paul would beat Ben Askren and his thoughts on the main event
“Not gonna lie, I called it a long time ago. I didn’t think he was gonna knock him out like that in the first round, that bad in the first round. Jake Paul definitely surprised me with that. I didn’t have Ben Askren winning. There was no way Ben Askren could beat Jake Paul. I saw his hands, his hands are terrible. He just wasn’t a good striker.”
“So his hands were terrible. And you know Jake Paul, he’s younger. He’s been working and his hands look better. He’s bigger and stronger. So, yeah, for me, I knew that Jake Paul was going to beat him and knock him out but he surprised me by how fast he did it in that first round.”
Askren vs Paul
The unique spectacle of Triller Fight Club and the partying vibe that permeated
“Yeah, it was very lenient, man. If I’m not mistaken, me and Ivan (Redkach) were like the only fighters. The real boxers that was fighting on the card. So everybody else, it was just kind of like a party. I wasn’t having that. Because for me, I look at this boxing shit as serious to me.”
“I was in the room the whole time until I had to come out. Was in my room, I’m talking about the whole week. I was in my room, I was working…It was just a whole different vibe. It was a party vibe. There was drinking and people high and smoking. But it wasn’t what I was used to, for sure.”
Regis Prograis maintaining laser focus amid the carnival-style, celebrity fuelled chaos of Triller
“I mean I saw all those people but for me, when I’m in my zone I’m ready. I’m not worried about nothing. I don’t care who walks in. I saw all those people that were passing by my dressing room. But I didn’t care about it. I was worried about fighting. At the end of the day, that’s what I came here to do. A lot of them came to play and party. Be around celebrities and stuff. But for me I didn’t come for that, I came for business. I came for a fight. Could do all that stuff after the fight but before the fight, no I wasn’t… I was serious. Was in my zone.”
Regis Prograis vs Ivan Redkach
Getting to show the nuances of the sweet science and being the most relevant representation of top-level boxing on this kind of a card
“Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I mean I’m glad that I got to represent boxing. I was the one on the card that really represented real boxing and I had a shut out in there. It was a little bizarre but I stopped him and got the knockout. So I’m happy with everything.”
Managing the range well against Ivan Redkach and increasing the pressure steadily
“Yeah bro and that’s why I think that’s why he did what he did. Because I was coming on to him. Like I mean in that last round, in that sixth round when I got up, I told my coach I’m about to start walking him down. I’m about to start beating him up. And I started hitting him harder and more and more. He just wanted a way out, that’s all. He just wanted a way out.”
Regis Prograis’ parting thoughts
“I just thank everybody for watching the fighting man. That’s the main thing. Thank you for watching the fight. Hopefully, I can be back. If the fans want me to be back in the ring, I think most people want to see me against Adrien Broner. And so, the fans need to demand it. That’s what I’m demanding, Adrien Broner fight next. And, if the fans demand it, it’ll make it that much bigger.”
