Ginny Fuchs

Prograis & Fuchs win Ugly in New Orleans

Win this time, look Spectacular next time is the mantra so commonly used in boxing. That's what two Houston-based fighters with Louisiana roots did in the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday night. Both WBC 140-pound world champ Regis "Rogarou" Prograis and "The Captain" US Olympian Ginny Fuchs won ugly and stayed undefeated. They were able to overcome tricky and difficult challenges to win wide points decisions. In the main event, Regis Prograis outpointed an unbelievably hesitant and seemingly unmotivated Danelito Zorrilla of Puerto Rico to retain his belt. There was a persistent theme of the fight the New Orleanian pressed forward and took action to his Puerto Rican challenger who constantly retreated and refused to throw. Zorrilla landed a clean right hand that perhaps won him the opening stanza. The clean shot did little to build the Puerto Rican's confidence as he stayed off the back foot with very little activity. A straight left from the Southpaw hometown fighter dropped Zorrilla, who fell hard to the canvas but got up and seemed ok. Regis sustained a nice rally with Zorrilla in a bit of trouble, but the challenger was able to survive the scare and made it through the round. Surviving was the theme of the night for Zorrilla, who landed a few shots but never opened up, and with the scores widening going into the later rounds and Zorrilla still refused to let his hands go. It became painfully obvious that the challenger was content with just making it the distance. Prograis would score with an occasional lead left hand, and Zorrilla scored with a few jabs and right hands but was outworked and never looked to really win rounds. Making a highlight real of the fight's best action would be a nearly impossible task, and outside of a quick flurry to the body by Prograis followed by a left hand upstairs in the final round, the entire night consisted of Prograis coming forward and coming up just short with the jab and lead lefts and Zorrilla in complete retreat refusing to let his hands go. The scores, because of the inaction, could have gone in any number of ways. At the end of the night, it went the way of the champ by scores of 114-113 Zorrilla but was overruled by wides scores in favor of Prograis 118-109 and 117-110. When asked if he understood why his opponent would refuse to engage in a world title fight, Prograis simply stated, "I'm lost, totally lost."

On the undercard portion of the card, 2021 US Olympic team captain Ginny Finch had a massive showing of support but had an equally frustrating night as Prograis. She was able to dominate with her jab and reach advantage but was consistently made uncomfortable by her aggressive and persistent opponent Indeya Rodriguez of Dallas. Each fighter appeared uncomfortable, at times and, at other times seemed to be having their way. For Rodriguez, she was able to battle her way inside and outwork and catch "The Captain" with clean shots. Fuchs, an LSU Graduate, was able to land from the outside and control the range. The battle seemed competitive, and Rodriguez rocked Fuchs with a right hand with about 30 seconds left in the 7th. Fuchs got back in control in the 8th, with Rodriguez trying to work her way onto the inside. Fuchs was able to batter her opponent with several clean jabs and clean counter short left hands. The fight appeared up for grabs. However, the judges all scored wide for "The Captain" with scores of 80-72 x2 and 79-73.