By Eóin Kennedy
Jack Catterall had to endure an intense first half of the fight against Regis Prograis in Manchester, England tonight, before overcoming the Louisiana fighter in the latter stages. Lawrence Okolie has emerged from a peculiar period in his career to sign with Frank Warren’s Queensbury Promotions. Former Olympic silver medallist, Pat McCormack also picked up another win tonight and will be looking to progress quickly in the pro ranks. Check out my thoughts on these boxing stories below:
Catterall Beats Prograis; Teofimo Lopez Should be the Target
It feels like Jack Catterall’s career was tied up in the Josh Taylor rivalry/debacle for what seemed like an eternity and cruelly, once the Mancunian fighter had finally got his revenge against Taylor, there were no world champions available to put their belts on the line. Catterall opted to take the toughest challenge readily available, and Regis Prograis was exactly that. Albeit a two-time world champion and game opponent, tonight served as the end of the road for the New Orleans fighter. Prograis told the in-ring reporter after the loss that his body was betraying him, and he was no longer equipped for twelve round fights. Prograis plans to retire from boxing and move to Bare Knuckle FC, which was recently acquired by Conor McGregor. Tonight’s winner, Jack Catterall, now holds the international trinket of the WBO and while the title itself lacks recognition or significance from a legacy point of view, it puts him in good standing to become a mandatory challenger to WBO world champion, Teofimo Lopez. Lopez toppled Taylor, which Catterall has since done too, and became the number one fighter in the light-welterweight division but has since struggled to secure a marquee opponent. Lopez’ pursuit of Terence Crawford looks like it’s going to be fruitless, so the New York fighter is still on the hunt for challengers to his world championship. Catterall is free of the Taylor baggage and has just secured another impressive win against a former two-time world champion. I think it’s time that we see Teofimo Lopez vs Jack Catterall in Madison Square Garden for the WBO light-welterweight world title.
Lawrence Okolie signs with Frank Warren
Lawrence Okolie was once one of Eddie Hearn’s darlings that came through the amateur ranks of Team GB. Okolie, like Joshua Buatsi, Luke Campbell, Joe Cordina and a few others, were all like supporting cast members to Anthony Joshua in the happy go luck story that was, the former Olympians at Matchroom Boxing. British boxing was going through an absolute boom around the period where Joshua defeated Wladimir Klitschko in Wembley Stadium, and it seemed that everyone in the Team GB alumni was benefitting from it. Despite winning a world title and being gifted a Rolex watch by Hearn, Okolie wasn’t happy and fled from his Matchroom contract earlier than expected. That story has been told and Okolie and Hearn’s fallout has been well documented so we won’t go too deep here, but after that split and a short stint with Ban Shalom’s Boxxer promotion, Okolie has found himself signing with Frank Warren’s Queensbury. Ironically, these days it doesn’t seem to matter what promoter you’re signed with as long as they fall under the umbrella of Turki Al-Sheikh so the list of potential opponents spreads wide and far. Okolie has also decided to move up to heavyweight and likely won’t want to jump straight in with one of the top names in the division but rather find his feet first. Expect to see him in with someone like Otto Wallin, Jermaine Franklin or, God forbid, Dereck Chisora in his first fight under Warren’s banner. If they really want to throw him to the wolves, Joseph Parker is looking for an opponent but that would be a courageous choice for his fight in the higher weight class.
Pat McCormack Wins, Suffers Cut, but Will Want to Move Fast
Olympic silver medalist from the Tokyo games in 2020, Pat McCormack, picked up the 6th win of his professional career in Manchester tonight and was on track to score a routine points victory over durable Argentine, William Anders Hererra, but a clash of heads caused a nasty cut to McCormack’s eye and turned that routine win into a bitter-sweet victory. Instead of being able to put the foot on the gas and return to the ring as soon as possible, he will now have to be patient and let the cut heal. McCormack was a late convertor to the paid ranks of boxing and is 29 years of age, by no means old but still not the age where a welterweight has an eternity of road ahead of them either. The classy amateur boxer’s professional career has been plagued by stalls and the time it will take this cut to heal is another to delay to the list. When McCormack does get patched up and can return to action, a quick tune-up against a lame duck opponent just to test the cut out and shake off some cobwebs may be a good idea, before taking a tilt at the British title. The welterweight iteration of the belt is currently vacant. McCormack fighting either Belfast’s Lewis Crocker or Portsmouth’s Michael McKinson for the vacant British title would be very intriguing. McKinson, who is coming off a loss, would be the chess player that McCormack would have to figure out and being a decorated amateur, he would be confident of doing so. Crocker is more of a ball of energy and would pile the pressure on throughout every minute of every round. McCormack’s pro career has been a slow burner so far and this cut will put the brakes on again, but there’s plenty of big fights for the Englishman to get excited about as he enters the next phase of his career and he’s lucky enough to be in a division that has legitimately high quality domestic opponents.
