Key Takeaways
- Two-time world champion boxer Regis Prograis reignited his confidence with a UD win (98-92, 96-94 x2) over Joseph “JoJo” Diaz.
- The bout showcased a unique level of grit on both sides, featuring early adversity for Prograis and a controversial cut for Diaz.
- Prograis’ top priority now is securing a third world championship, with the opponent and path less important than the end goal itself.
Regis Prograis (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Former WBA and WBC super lightweight champion Regis Prograis (30-3, 24 KOs) joined RG fresh off his Fight of the Year contender against Joseph “JoJo” Diaz, an absolute war Aug. 2 in Chicago, which he left victorious by unanimous decision. Prograis discussed the win, addressed his critics, and explained why he’s once again chasing a third belt after briefly considering retirement.
Fortunately for Prograis, the summer slugfest with Diaz left surprisingly few bruises. Once Saturday night adrenaline wore off, he was quickly back to the drawing board, dialed in on the long road that awaits.
“Of course, on Sunday I was a little sore,” Prograis admitted. “But by Monday, I was all healed up. I actually trained. I tried to do some stuff on Sunday night. It was great, man. I’m glad that we did that. I’m glad that JoJo was a great opponent for me at this time in my career. Everything turned out perfectly for me. I think it really did. It was a good opponent for me to get back on my feet. I was in a little mental slump for a while, and this was good. I feel like it really boosted my confidence a lot.”
Cuts, Controversy & Critics
Meanwhile, Diaz wasn’t as lucky on the subject of battle scars, with a clash of heads in the fourth round opening a nasty cut above his left eye. Going into the sixth round, when Diaz was asked to identify how many fingers the doctor presented, he answered wrong not once, not twice… three times in fact, yet the fight would nonetheless continue. Prograis agrees that this widely scrutinized line of questioning is both embarrassing and pointless if doctors don’t do their jobs, but he also didn’t want the fight stopped. If Diaz had enough left to continue, the New Orleans native wanted to see the classic firefight that was brewing through.
“I’m glad we had a fight like that,” Prograis said. “I’m glad at this stage in my career I could have a fight like that. People still see I have so much left in the tank. Usually, people my age, they don’t have that in the tank anymore. They’d probably quit or give up. It was a brutal fight, but I’m glad that I had that. I can show people that I can get wobbled in the first round and still have that dog in me to keep continuing to fight. Not just fight, but win. I’m glad that they let the fight go.”
Prograis still has his fair share of critics, though. Many question his durability and conditioning, particularly after back-to-back setbacks and multiple moments of vulnerability in tough unanimous decision losses to Devin Haney and Jack Catterall. Even through the Diaz bout, he appeared hurt in multiple rounds (most notably the opening frame), and as a result, the decision felt far from clear-cut in his favor.
Despite the active debate among observers, this 36-year-old boxer, who made his professional boxing debut over 13 years ago, continues to weed out the noise and lean on the resilience that has defined his entire career.
“People are always going to say what they’re going to say,” Prograis shared. “I’ve been in this sport a long time now. I’m not really worried about what people are going to say. People are always going to say things no matter what. It’s going to be good and bad. You take what you need to take out of it.
Sometimes you need a hater because you see what you need to work on. They might be trying to be negative towards you, but I can take it and work on things. I like the haters more than anything else because they tell me what I need to do. Even if they’re trying to be mean and trying to be hateful towards me, I don’t take it like that.”
Rougarou’s Redemption — ‘Do I Still Have It?’
Unlike most fighters, Prograis was never concerned with the judges’ scorecards. He felt he controlled Diaz with his jab and calculated combinations, even if maybe he didn’t always land the heavier shots. For the man they call “Rougarou,” named after a mythical, werewolf-esque creature from Cajun folklore, this long-awaited trip to the winner’s column, marking Prograis’ first triumph since his WBC super lightweight title reign over two years ago, felt as if it was destined.
“I don’t know why, but I just was so confident it was my night,” Prograis said. “If I would’ve lost that fight, I probably would’ve retired. I would’ve been like, ‘You know what, I’m done.’ I trained my ass off for this fight. I went to Vegas for two months. For two months straight, I just trained hard. All we did everyday was train, eat, and sleep. That’s it. Literally, for six days a week, that’s all I did. It was no fun. It was just training. I kind of got used to just training so much, all day. Two or three times per day, training. If I would’ve lost that fight, if they would’ve given it to him, I probably would’ve just left boxing alone.”
To be fair, the sting of consecutive losses had already hit Prograis harder than anyone he could face inside the squared circle. After falling short of the vacant WBO international light welterweight title against Catterall in 2024, he immediately started to question his sacrifices, the pain those sacrifices demand, and whether the world title picture would still have a place for him altogether. Bare-knuckle fighting even crossed his mind as a feasible pivot to chase a championship elsewhere.
His aura had slowly started to dim, and doubt crept in, but even though peace was found in the fact he no longer needed the sport, it still wasn’t time to walk away. Instead, Prograis decided the fight ahead was to show his competitive spirit could be rebuilt into a catalyst for title contention at 140 pounds.
“It was really hard because you always think, ‘Man, do I still have it?’,” Prograis said. “I was thinking, ‘Am I done? Do I have to be retired?’ But at the same time, I knew I wasn’t. I knew how much I have in the tank. No matter what people say about me, I know what I have. I know what’s in my body, what’s in my brain, what’s in my heart. I know that already. I just had to go out and prove it.”
Easy as One, Two… Three?
Prograis followed through on his mission, now solely focused on securing another belt around his waist before it’s all said and done. He told RG he doesn’t hold grudges, pick fights, or manufacture distaste for his contemporaries anymore — just simply wants to compete at the highest level and make history before leaving the game behind. Names across from him on the marquee don’t matter either, only getting gold back at all costs.
Riding the momentum of his resurgence over Diaz, Prograis aims for a return before the end of 2025, ideally late November to mid-December, looking to close the year on a high note.
When questioned about what comes next should he ultimately capture his dream of a third world title, whether it would be a stepping stone to retirement or a throne to be defended, Prograis entertained the idea of walking into his hometown of New Orleans as a champion one last time, and win or lose, closing the final chapter of a legendary career on his own terms.
“I’d probably [win the championship] and then maybe do a title defense,” Prograis said. “Maybe do a big title defense in New Orleans and then that would be the storybook ending for me. Like a big one, something we could go to the Superdome with or something big. It’d have to be a big name. Then, I think I can ride off into the sunset after that.”
