The team at Matchroom Boxing expected a less drastic transition in the change of opponents for Regis Prograis.
Danielito Zorrilla was dialed up relatively quickly after Australia’s Liam Paro suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw from a scheduled title challenge versus Prograis. Even on four weeks’ notice—which meant a three-week training camp plus fight weeks—it was believed that Zorrilla would provide a stiff and entertaining challenge.
The first-time title challenger from Puerto Rico provided fits for Prograis (29-1, 24KOs), who had to settle for a split decision win in a homecoming WBC junior welterweight title defense devoid of action this past Saturday at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
“It was a poor fight,” Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn stated after the DAZN-aired main event. “It wasn’t a great performance from Regis but frustrating from Zorrilla.
“We chose Zorrilla because we felt he would come to fight. When you get an opportunity to fight for a world championship—I just thought it was a frustrating performance, very disappointing from Zorrilla.”
Prograis avoided a knockdown call when both men fell to the canvas after he was tagged with a right hand in the opening round. The 34-year-old southpaw floored Zorrilla with a left hand in round three, after which point Zorrilla boxed largely from the outside with greater emphasis on the ‘move’ part of a stick-and-move style.
“From the opening bell, I felt like that was what he was gonna do,” noted Prograis. “When I dropped him, he felt the power and started running even more. I tried to get to him, I tried to catch him but he ran around.
The fits provided by Zorrilla (17-2, 13KOs) was enough to win on the scorecard of Craig Metcalfe (114-113). It was overruled by judges Robert Tapper (118-109) and Josef Mason (117-110) whose scores—generally viewed as wider than how most observers saw the twelve-round title fight—were not as appreciate of Zorrilla’s defense-first approach.
All told, the fight did not go as originally envisioned by Matchroom and Prograis after the two entered a promotional agreement in May.
“[Zorrilla] frustrated Regis early, they both felt power in the first round. Regis dropped him (in round three) and he just ran for the whole fight,” insisted Hearn. “He never tried to win the fight. You can talk about it being close, levels and all that. Regis just was forcing the fight. He didn’t cut him off as well as I’m sure he would have liked.
“It was disappointing that Zorrilla didn’t come to fight. Onto the next.”
By Jake Donovan