NEW YORK -- When Jose Ramirez won a unanimous decision against Amir Imam to claim a vacant junior welterweight world title in an action-packed fight on Saturday night, one particularly interested observer sat ringside at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
It was Regis Prograis, who the week before knocked out former unified world titlist Julius Indongo in the second round of an overwhelming performance to claim the vacant interim title to set himself up for a mandatory fight with Ramirez for the full title.
In essence, Ramirez-Imam and Prograis-Indongo was a WBC-ordered four-man tournament to crown its 140-pound world titleholder following undisputed champion Terence Crawford's decision to vacate all four major belts last summer and move up to welterweight.
Initially, Prograis was supposed to fight Imam for the vacant title, but at its last convention, the WBC approved a scenario in which Ramirez and Imam would vie for the vacant title and Prograis and former titlist Viktor Postol would fight for the interim belt. The winners were to face each other with the order that the fight between the full titleholder and interim titlist would be a 50-50 split if the fight went to a purse bid instead of a more favorable percentage for the full titleholder.
Everyone signed off on it, and then when Postol broke his thumb, Indongo got the call.
Prograis said he thought the fight between Ramirez and Imam went about as he had expected and that he is anxious to fight Ramirez as soon as possible.
"I thought the fight was going to happen just like that," Prograis told ESPN shortly after the fight. "If it went to the scorecards, I felt Ramirez would blow him out and it happened. I felt if Imam didn't knock him out, Ramirez would win."
In the end, Ramirez (22-0, 16 KOs), 25, a 2012 U.S. Olympian from Avenal, California, outpointed Imam (21-2, 18 KOs), 27, of Albany, New York, on scores of 120-108, 117-111 and 115-113.
"I think Ramirez looked good. I was [there] as a fan of the sport, but I was watching closely, though," Prograis said. "Ramirez dug down. It was a tough fight. Imam is supposed to be a good puncher and he hit Ramirez with some big shots, but he wasn't buzzed one time in 12 rounds. He looked real good, but I saw some holes in his defense. He got hit with some shots that I think potentially if I hit him like that I could end the fight."
Although Ramirez-Prograis is supposed to be next, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, Ramirez's promoter, proposed to Prograis promoter Lou DiBella that Prograis defend his interim belt this summer in the co-feature of Ramirez's first defense in his home region of Fresno, California, where Ramirez is a major draw. Arum said he'd like to build up the fight between Ramirez and Prograis a little bit first before making the fight in the fall. Arum's view is that while Prograis is an excellent fighter, he needs to have his profile raised.
Prograis (21-0, 18 KOs), 29, of Houston, is torn about that scenario. On the one hand, he wants the title shot as soon as possible. But he's also an intelligent man and understands that the fight could be worth a lot more to him financially with a little more patience.
"I do want the title fight and wouldn't want to [do an interim fight]. I should have already have been fighting for the title because I was ahead of Ramirez in the WBC rankings," Prograis said. "Now I am the interim champion and the mandatory, so I want the fight. But it's a possibility [that I could wait] because of the money. It depends on the money, but I already felt like I should have been fighting for the title. So it depends. I have to talk to my team and maybe I do need to be patient, but I want the belt right now. I deserve it. But then again, maybe we can build up the fight a little more. I'll tell you one thing, though: I would fight him at his home. I would fight him in Fresno. No problem."
DiBella echoed Prograis' feelings. He wants his guy to get the shot in the next fight, but DiBella also understands the business.
"Look, Regis is entitled to the fight and we want the fight next, but I'll listen to what Bob has to say and maybe there's something creative we can do," DiBella said. "But, frankly, [Ramirez] got his free pass. He wasn't supposed to fight Imam for the title. Regis was supposed to fight Imam for the title because Ramirez was lower in the ratings. That's why this is a 50-50 purse bid situation. This was a mini-tournament and now it's time for the final."
DiBella knows that with Ramirez's drawing power in California's Central Valley region and having Prograis fight on the same card with Ramirez this summer, it could make their eventual meeting that much bigger for everyone involved, but he is not ready to roll over for Arum.
"Regis' attitude is, 'Listen to everything, but what I really want is the title fight next,'" DiBella said. "Yes, Ramirez sells s---loads of tickets in Fresno and that's great and he's a fun fighter. These are two really good young fighters. This is the collision course they're on and Regis wants to continue things as promised [by the WBC]. But my phone is open to Bob and we're willing to listen."
Because of Top Rank's deal with ESPN, Arum envisions the potential doubleheader and the eventual Ramirez-Prograis fight as ESPN events, but DiBella made the point that Prograis has been built on Showtime and that the premium cable network has an option on his next fight.
"That's also a factor," DiBella said. "Showtime has been very supportive of Regis' career. There's loyalty there. But when Ramirez and Regis fight, I don't believe Regis will blow the guy out, but around the eighth, ninth, 10th round, Ramirez will look like a carved turkey. Regis is a very confident kid and I know his respect for Ramirez went up after seeing the Imam fight because Ramirez had a terrific performance. So he's not looking at Ramirez like it's easy. He just knows he will win.
"I've never been around a fighter with that kind of confidence that he has since I was with (former middleweight world champion) Sergio Martinez."