Jack Catterall earned a one-sided decision over Regis Prograis in a key bout over the weekend. The card took place from Manchester, England and streamed live on DAZN.
The English Catterall claimed the vacant WBO International light welterweight title with the win, which was his fourth straight. His last – and only – loss came to Josh Taylor via split decision back in 2022.
Catterall’s loss to Taylor in Scotland was his only opportunity to date for the main light welterweight belts, as Taylor left the OVO Hydro with the WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring belts that night. Since, he has reeled off decisions over Prograis, Jorge Linares, Darragh Foley and avenged the Taylor defeat earlier this year.
“I hope the fight lived up to its expectations,” Catterall said in the post-fight press conference (thanks to ESPN for the quotes). “It was a cagey fight at the start. We both did what we needed to do but there was a lot of credit for Regis after the fight.
“When I dropped him, I wish he’d had stayed down but he didn’t. He showed he’s a true champion and got back up. It was about being sensible. Maybe I could have took more risks but maybe that would have gone the other way against me.”
Jack Catterall Was The More Aggressive Fighter In Win
Catterall out-landed Prograis, 8372, and threw over 400 total strikes during the bout. Over half of those he landed were power strikes compared to just 27 by Prograis, who fell to 29-3 with the loss.
“Jack was the better man, I’m not going to lie,” Prograis said. “He deserves a world title fight. I’ve fought the best of them, and so far, I think Jack is probably the best I’ve fought.”
Prograis, from Louisiana, has faced off against the likes of Devin Haney, Jose Zepeda and Taylor during his career. He won his first 24 bouts before losing to Taylor in 2019 via majority decision, and has now dropped his last two to Catteral land Haney.
Jimmy Joe Flint moved to 15-2-2 with a decision over Campbell Hatton in one of the featured bouts. Hatton, the son of Ricky Hatton, was looking to avenge a loss in March to Flint, but instead fell to 14-2 overall. Reece Bellotti and Michael Gomez Jr. were scheduled to meet before Bellotti came down sick, scrapping the British and Commonwealth super featherweight fight.