At last, one fight on the Triller Fight Club card ended in controversy.
The Regis Prograis-Ivan Redkach fight on the Jake Paul-Ben Askren undercard at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta turned out to be the most legitimate fight of the night. Prograis beat Redkach by technical decision — 60-54, 60-54, 59-54 — in a junior welterweight fight shortened due to Redkach being unable to continue after a blow to his side. Instead of being ruled a technical knockout or knockout, though, the result was determined by the cards, where Prograis won the fight.
In the sixth round, Prograis (26-1, 21 KO) landed a right hook to Redkach’s body, knocking Redkach (23-6-1) down in what was determined to be a low blow. Redkach fell to the ground in tears and had a ring physician tend to him. Seeing the shot on replay, Prograis started pointing out that it was not a low blow.
Redkach was stretchered out of the ring while Prograis was yelling at the broadcast booth in a conversation with announcer Snoop Dogg.
Before the controversial ending, Prograis had been dominant, and clearly was on his way to winning the fight and perhaps knocking out Redkach. Prograis outlanded Redkach 85-45 and landed 31.6% of his punches, compared to 18.1% for Redkach.
In the sixth and final round, Prograis landed 40.7% of his power punches (11-of-27). After the first round, Redkach landed fewer than 10 punches per round. Prograis, meanwhile, landed at least 10 punches in every round.
Prograis, 32, did a good job of moving away from Redkach’s attempts at landing power punches in the third round as he started to assert a little bit of dominance. In the fourth round, Prograis landed a strong overhand right and then started to show more confidence.
Prograis, a former 140-pound champion and the best fighter on the card, did what he needed to potentially be in conversation to fight the winner of the Josh Taylor-Jose Ramirez title unification fight next month. There’s other competition in the division as well, but considering he lost a majority decision to Taylor in the World Boxing Super Series final in 2019, he has a strong case to make as a future opponent.
Cunningham dominates former UFC champ Mir
Steve Cunningham was once a titleholder. On Saturday night, years after he last fought professionally, Cunningham reentered the ring and dominated, albeit against a fighter who had never fought in a boxing ring.
The 44-year-old Cunningham won a unanimous decision — 60-54, 60-54 and 58-56 — over former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, and was then presented with a Fight Club belt. It wasn’t clear what the belt signified, if anything.
Cunningham (30-9-1, 13 KO) landed a right hook in the second round, one of the better early shots to Mir (0-1). In the third round, Cunningham, the Philadelphia native and former cruiserweight world champion, landed a straight left.
Mir, from Las Vegas, did well to hang on throughout the fight but never really threatened the veteran Cunningham. Cunningham landed consistent punches in the fifth round, but Mir’s chin held up well, getting him to the decision.
Cunningham hadn’t fought since 2017, when he lost a unanimous decision to Andrew Tabiti. Mir, who was making his boxing debut after a lengthy and accomplished MMA career, last fought on Oct. 25, 2019, in a unanimous decision win over Roy Nelson at Bellator 231.
Fournier stops Reykon for his ninth KO victory
Reykon lasted longer than a lot of people might have expected. But Joe Fournier did what he needed to do.
Reykon, the reggaeton performer from Colombia, did not come out of his corner to start the third round, giving Fournier another stoppage victory.
Fournier (9-0, 9 KO) knocked Reykon down in the first minute of the second round with a well-placed left hook to the chin — the first real punch Fournier landed. Fournier toyed with Reykon throughout the fight. Reykon (0-1) went down a second time in the second round after a body shot from Fournier, but got up a second time.
Fournier said postfight he wanted the fight to last four or five rounds, but it didn’t go that long.
On the Triller broadcast, they said this fight started — and ended up being scheduled — after Fournier and Reykon quarreled at a nightclub — something Fournier confirmed after the fight. Instead of settling things in the club, they instead decided to go to the ring for the 34-year-old Reykon’s first-ever boxing match.
After the fight Fournier, 38, called out Jake Paul. Fournier hadn’t fought since 2016 and while he had knocked out all of his opponents before Saturday, at the time he fought them, they had a combined record of 29-116-1.
BOSKOE100, Gonzoe exhibition ends in draw
The three-round exhibition between BOSKOE100 and Gonzoe, which was put on in support of the Gloves Up Guns Down charity, had Snoop Dogg on commentary — and that was the primary element working in its favor. It was clear by the middle of the second round that both fighters were exhausted.
It got interesting in the third round when BOSKOE100 opened with some hooks. But like the previous two rounds, both fighters seemed wiped out by the one-minute mark in the third round.
The fighters were given a draw, with Snoop Dogg calling the Gloves Up Guns Down charity the bigger winner.
Younan dominates Minda in decision win
Junior Younan hadn’t fought in more than two years. The layoff didn’t matter, though, as the undefeated Brooklyn-based fighter maintained his undefeated record.
Younan won a unanimous decision over Ecuador’s Jeyson Minda, 78-71 on all three cards after eight rounds. There were no knockdowns, and while there was some chatter after the fight between the two boxers in the final seconds, it was squashed after both fighters went back to their corners.
Other than a couple of flurries from Minda (14-5-0, 8 KO) in Round 5, Younan (16-0-1, 10 KO) appeared to control the fight. Twice, though, Younan landed low blows, forcing referee Brian Stutts to take away a point from Younan in the round.
The loss was Minda’s fifth in his past six fights. His previous four losses were all by stoppage. Minda had a strong sixth round and started becoming more aggressive as the fight progressed. In the seventh round, Minda was deducted a point for holding, and he lost another point in the eighth round for a low blow.
It was Younan’s first time in the ring since a unanimous decision victory over Derrick Findley on March 9, 2019.
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