Regis Prograis explains why he chose to fight Terry Flanagan in the WBSS opening round

Regis Prograis (22-0, 19 KOs) is set to open the World Boxing Super Series’ 140lb tournament on Oct. 27, where as the top seeded fighter he got the first choice of opponent. Prograis would go right for Terry Flanagan (33-1, 13 KOs), although there were probably some easier opponents he could’ve chosen.

In a media scrum Prograis recently held to talk about the upcoming tournament, as captured by WBN, Prograis explains how his training camp has been progressing and why he wanted Flanagan right out of the gates.

“For this fight, I started training about two weeks early. Right after my fight in New Orleans in July, I went to Moscow for the drawing of the World Boxing Super Series where I chose Terry Flanagan to fight me in the first round. He’s a former world champion and I wanted to fight the toughest among those available for me to choose.”

“I wanted to pick the harder fight and that’s why I went with Flanagan. I wasn’t looking for an easy opponent.”

Prograis, 29, is coming off a stoppage win over Juan Jose Velasco back in July, in a fight that obviously didn’t go the distance but saw him have a tougher-than-expected time — particularly after his dominant performance against Julius Indongo just a few months prior. One would expect that Prograis is planning to turn it back up a notch, and he has a credible enough opponent to make a statement early in the tournament should he be able do so.