Showtime stepped up its ShoBox series from prospect level to serious championship challengers for titles in the 140-pound division with a two-fight slate in the boxing hotbed of Deadwood, South Dakota.In the main event for the "Interim" title of the WBC, who hasn't even filled their real title in the junior welterweight division, Regis Prograis of New Orleans smoked former WBA and IBF champion Julius Indongo in just two rounds to not only win himself a trinket,but make himself a live contender to defeat any 140 pounder around.
Prograis dropped Indongo late in the first round and finished him with three second-round knockdowns.
I thought the final knockdown was arguable, but the legs of Indongo were gone and the stoppage was inevitable, so I was fine with the fight's ending.
Indongo had the disadvantage of being a late substitute for Viktor Postol, but from what I saw Indongo would have had problems taking the punches from Prograis no matter how much he was given to prepare.
Often times in boxing, a fighter's ability to take punches can change drastically and permanently after one fight and it appears that the loss to Terence Crawford may have done just that to Julius Indongo.
Keep an eye on his next few fights, it's possible Regis Prograis is that good of a puncher, but it could be that Indongo has lost the capacity to take a good shot.
As for Prograis, he proved a great deal in mowing down a former champion with ease, although time may show that he happened to be the first guy to fight a faded fighter, and with 18 KO's in 21 wins, Prograis is going to be a tough out for the winner of the Jose Ramirez-Amir Imam bout ( My money is on Ramirez there) and a possible Ramirez-Prograis fight might be one of the better fights this year.
I'd be extremely interested in seeing that one.
In the co-feature and eliminator for the IBF version of the junior welterweight title, Ivan Baranchyk ran over former lightweight contender Petr Petrov in eight rounds to earn the mandatory position for the winner of the Sergey Lipinets-Mikey Garcia fight later tonight from San Antonio.
Baranchyk scored knockdowns in the first, second and sixth rounds and was simply too big and too strong for Petrov, who was taking the fight on a week's notice and moving up from the lightweight division as a replacement for Anthony Yegit of Sweden.
I cannot imagine Mikey Garcia defending against Baranchyk (though he'd likely beat him), so my guess is that a Garcia win will eventually result in a vacated belt that Baranchyk would likely fight for.
In the boxing challenge-both Ramon Malpica and I earned one point for Baranchyk's win and no others as we both picked the shell of Julius Indongo against Regis Prograis.
I lead the challenge 37-29.
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