REGIS PROGRAIS caused a bit of a stir at today’s final press conference for his fight against Jack Catterall on Saturday night.
The build-up to the main event at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester has been very amicable between both fighters with neither antagonising the other.
However, there was a plot twist today at the top table just as the press conference ended.
“Hold on, hold on, I’m going to slash everything right now,” Prograis chimed.
“A long, long time ago his [Catterall] manager Sam Jones…. where you at?”
The two-time super-lightweight champion made sure he got the attention of Catterall’s manager who was in the crowd watching.
“Sam actually said I will beat Jack’s ass a long, long time ago,” Prograis revealed. “And I got proof if you want to hear it.”
“He said ‘flatten him’,” Prograis added.
Jones, microphone in hand, then had his right to reply.
“Hand to God, I never said that. You’ve been hit in the head too much by Devin Haney,” Jones said.
Prograis, who by this time had his mobile phone ready, then pressed play on the recording he had of Jones.
“I like Jack by the way, I know him very well but I think you flatten him. You understand what I mean? You’re a different guy to Josh Taylor.”
There was more to the audio but it was drowned out by the crowd’s reaction and the shock of Eddie Hearn as well.
“This is before I knew Jack and I’d never met Jack before,” Jones countered.
It remains to be seen if this does anything to the relationship between Catterall and Jones – who vowed to get his own back on Prograis via social media – but it certainly put a cat among the pigeons at today’s final press conference.
