Regis Prograis vs Danielito Zorrilla – Results & Post-Fight Report

Regis Prograis was given a decent examination by Danielito Zorrilla, but scored a knockdown on the way to a split decision win in his maiden WBC super lightweight title defence at Smoothie King Centre in New Orleans.

Prograis was in his second reign as world champion, and took the vacant WBC title in his most recent contest, an eleventh round knockout win against Jose Zepeda. Zorrilla was stepping in for the injured Liam Paro, and his sole blemish came in a points loss to Arnold Barboza Jr in June last year.

It was a nervy start for the champion, as he looked shaken, and as though he was dropped in the opening round, but the referee ruled a slip. It was a better round for Prograis (29-1, KO24) in round two, and although Zorrilla still had his moments, Prograis landed with a rapid-fire left hand in the third that decked the challenger. That didn’t deter him though, as Zorrilla enjoyed the better of rounds four and five, but he chose to spoil in the next two frames to allow Prograis to wrest back control. It was messy stuff that Prograis was shading, without threatening the stoppage. He went to the body of Zorrilla in the penultimate round, but settled for the final bell as the bout went to the cards.

It was a scrappy contest, but somehow one judge had Zorrilla a 114-113 winner, overruled by the remaining judges, who tallied 118-109 and 117-110 for Prograis.

On the undercard, Shakhram Giyasov (14-0, KO9) moved closer to a potential world title shot, as he took a wide points win at welterweight against Harold Calderon (27-1, KO18). The Uzbek came through handily by scores of 120-108, 118-110 and 116-112.

Ramla Ali (8-1, KO2) suffered defeat for the first time as a pro, as she was halted in the eighth round by Argentina’s Julissa Alejandra Guzman (13-2-2, KO7), who took Ali’s IBF Intercontinental super bantamweight title in the process. Ali was down from a raking right hand in the fifth, and huge left hand in the eighth flattened the champion, and she was never likely to beat the count.

Xavier Madrid (5-2, KO2) upset Aaron Aponte (7-1-1, KO2) at super lightweight, taking a split decision. Two scores of 76-75 won the fight for Madrid, against a 78-73 verdict for Aponte. Ginny Fuchs (3-0, KO1) stayed unbeaten, taking a landslide points win over eight at super flyweight against Indeya Smith (6-8-2, KO1). Scores of 80-72 (twice) and 79-73 saw the Texan home.

Jeremy Hill (19-3, KO12) scored a fourth round stoppage against Mark Davis (19-2, KO5) at lightweight, and Criztec Bazaldua (2-0, KO0) took all four rounds against Elroy Fruto (1-2, KO0)