Josh Taylor has successfully unified the light-welterweight championship with a majority decision victory over American counterpart Regis Prograis, after a tied scorecard was superseded by tallies of 117-112 and 115-113 in his favour.
The Tartan Tornado is also the winner of the World Boxing Super Series tournament and was presented with the Muhammad Ali trophy after the fight by super-middleweight champion Callum Smith.
As the noise at the 02 Arena reached deafening proportions, the unflappable Prograis started comfortably, dominating the opening jab exchanges and shooting downstairs to the body.
However, Taylor – the slight betting underdog – was obstinate under fire and endeavoured to push his counterpart back throughout the next couple of rounds, enjoying greater success on the front foot.
Indeed, Prograis’ output dropped somewhat after the midway point as he struggled to find openings in the face of Taylor’s relentless forward momentum.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh native continued to push the pace and appeared to have the better of the middle rounds, as a tiring Prograis was continually forced to retreat and reset.
Taylor’s superior physical strength and supreme conditioning ultimately appeared to be the decisive factor, as he looked decidedly livelier in the exchanges.
Although Prograis, nursing an apparently broken nose, rallied hard in the final two rounds and appeared to hurt Taylor briefly with a series of straight lefts, the home favourite was able to hang on and secure a memorable victory.
Article by: Navi Singh
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