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Mike CoppingerESPN
The vacant WBC junior welterweight title fight between Regis Prograis and Jose Zepeda was won by upstart promotional company MarvNation on Tuesday with a commitment of $2.4 million.
TGB Promotions on behalf of PBC was the other bidder at $1.2 million. The fighters will split the $2.4 million evenly.
“We expect to host this event within the next 90 days; Las Vegas and Atlantic City are potential locations,” Marvin Rodriguez, CEO and Founder of Southern California-based MarvNation Promotions, told ESPN. ” … Our intention has always been to do big things in the sport of boxing and this is the first of many important moves we plan on making.”
No broadcast plans have yet been finalized.
Prograis (27-1, 23 KOs) has scored knockouts of three fringe contenders since a majority-decision defeat to Josh Taylor in a 2019 unification bout. Fighting out of Houston, the former champion is ESPN’s No. 4 junior welterweight; Zepeda is No. 5. They’ll vie for one of the three titles Taylor vacated while he pursues a Nov. 26 rematch with Jack Catterall.
“I’m beyond happy to be getting a shot at the title again,” Prograis, 33, told ESPN last month. “My goal was to become a two-time world champion and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I want to establish myself as the best 140[-pound boxer] on the planet again.
“And on top of that, Zepeda is a real killer in the 140-pound division, so this is a huge fight, not just for the division but for boxing.”
Zepeda (35-2, 27 KOs) is winless in two previous title challengers, but both defeats were far from clean. A 2015 lightweight title fight against Terry Flanagan ended when he dislocated his left shoulder and retired on his stool following Round 2.
In 2019, Zepeda dropped a controversial majority decision to Jose Ramirez in a junior welterweight title fight.
Since the setback, Zepeda has impressed with a decision win over Jose Pedraza, and most notably, a brutal KO of Ivan Baranchyk in ESPN’s 2020 Fight of the Year. The 33-year-old from Southern California scored a first-round TKO of Josue Vargas in October.
“I have been waiting for a really long time to fight for the WBC title,” Zepeda told ESPN last month. “… I’m happy that Prograis wants this fight, I know he’s a really good fighter and I’m sure that we will give our fans a tremendous fight. I can’t wait until I become the next WBC champion.”
Ramirez, a former unified champion, will be the mandatory challenger for the winner after he passed up on the title rematch with Zepeda to focus on his October wedding.