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Season two of the World Boxing Super Series is underway, with tournaments at 118, 140, and cruiserweight. This Saturday in New Orleans, we’ll see a pair of fights in the 140-pound tournament, streaming live on DAZN.
Regis Prograis vs Terry Flanagan
Prograis (22-0, 19 KO) has gone from an interesting ShoBox prospect to one of the top fighters in the junior welterweight ranks, with a decent enough argument that he should be ranked No. 1 in the class now that Terence Crawford is up at welterweight.
“Rougarou” lives in Houston, but is originally from New Orleans, where he fought last time out in a win over Juan Jose Velasco on July 14, and returns on Saturday at Lakefront Arena. Prograis also annihilated former titleholder Julius Indongo in March of this year, putting him at 2-0 in 2018.
Flanagan (33-1, 13 KO) is a former lightweight titleholder and the underdog here, which is reasonable considering Prograis’ current head of steam and the fact that Flanagan lost at home in June to Maurice Hooker, moving up to 140 to fight for the vacant WBO belt. He’d done well at 135, but never really seemed like a standout fighter despite his success, and his list of world title defenses left something to be desired overall.
Matchup Grade: C. Prograis should win this fight, and may well do so in impressive fashion. He’s got a great style to watch, as he attacks and comes to fight, but has skills, too, not just a pure brawler or anything. Flanagan is a very solid fighter, but he’s great at nothing in particular.
Ivan Baranchyk vs Anthony Yigit
Baranchyk (18-0, 11 KO) and Yigit (21-0-1, 7 KO) are a pair of unbeaten prospects. Both have made a little bit of noise as pros, but this tournament is where they hope to really break through. This fight is also for the vacant IBF title.
Baranchyk, 25, is from Belarus but now fights out of Miami, Oklahoma, where he became something of a local star fighting six times at Buffalo Run Casino. Most recently, he was in Deadwood, South Dakota, to beat Petr Petrov on March 9 on the Prograis-Indongo Showtime undercard, dominating the fight.
Yigit, 27, is a Swedish fighter and former Olympian, representing his country at the 2012 Games in London. The southpaw technician will be making his U.S. debut with this fight, and has had success at the regional level, winning the European title in 2017 and defending it twice.
Matchup Grade: B-. Of the two, this is probably the more evenly matched fight, but also the less likely to produce big action. I like Baranchyk here, but that could simply be the bias of having seen him more. One of these guys will leave able to call himself world champion, and the division will have a new upper echelon contender, at least in theory.