Regis Prograis emerges as potential next opponent for Jack Catterall after dominant Tyrone McKenna win

The Chorley star was in the United Arab Emirates to put pen to paper with his new promoters Probellum, who have vowed to get him straight back in the world title picture.

And on the second of two shows at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium on Saturday, the uncrowned undisputed champion watched from ringside as fellow super-lightweight star Regis Prograis impressed in a dominant display against Tyrone McKenna, a man Catterall beat back in 2018.

The fight was a final eliminator for the WBC title, one of the four belts expected to be vacated by Josh Taylor in the near future that Catterall hopes to get his hands on after the huge controversy of his defeat to the Scot in Glasgow on February 26.

Catterall talked up a meeting with former WBA champion Prograis, who has lost just one of his 28 fights, on signing with Probellum and the American called for the contest in his post fight interview in Dubai.

He said: “I want to call Jack Catterall out after he called me out.”

Catterall is ranked highly with the WBC but whether they would sanction a meeting with Prograis for any vacant title remains to be seen, fellow American Jose Zepeda another who could face Prograis.

It comes as the unscrupulous nature of boxing politics reared its ugly head again at the weekend with Catterall demoted to third in the WBO’s rankings, meaning he would likely miss out on fighting for that title, despite having been the governing body’s mandatory challenger for a lengthy period of time before getting his shot against Taylor.

The move was also made despite the British Boxing Board of Control lobbying the WBO, WBC, WBA and IBF to make the Chorley favourite the top contender for their titles.

The decree from the WBO was met with some relish by Taylor who posted “call the police” on Instagram, in reference to Chorley MP Sir Lindsay Hoyle revealing he had informed the authorities about the scoring controversy at the end of last month.

It was met with short shrift by Catterall, who wrote on Twitter: “The man with zero class.”

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