Photos: Regis Prograis, Kiryl Relikh - Ready For WBSS Title Clash

By Jake Donovan

For all of the drama that has surrounded the second season of the World Boxing Super Series, at least it stopped well short of the scales.

All four main participants made weight for Saturday’s title fight doubleheader at The Cajun Dome in Lafayette, Louisiana. Headlining the card, unbeaten contender and 140-pound tournament top seed Regis Prograis (23-0, 19KOs) challenges defending titlist Kiryl Relikh in the semifinals round of the super lightweight bracket.

Prograis tipped the scales at a shredded 139.8 pounds ahead of his first shot at a full title. The unbeaten boxer from New Orleans—who now lives and trains in Houston, Tex.—fights for the third straight time in his original home state, with Saturday’s show taking place at the halfway point between the two cities he calls home.

The location is literally thousands of miles away for Relikh (23-2, 19KOs), who weighed 139.9 pounds for the second defense of his title. The 29-year old—who hails from Belarus but trains in Miami, Fl.—won his title in a revenge-fueled 12-round decision over Rances Barthelemy (who also fights on Saturday, versus Robert Easter in Las Vegas) less than a year after suffering a controversial points loss to the Las Vegas-based Cuban.

Relikh made the first successful defense of his title in the very first bout of the second season of WBSS, outpointing former titlist Eduard Troyanovsky last October. The fight took place in Japan, 20 days before Prograis scored a landslide decision win over former lightweight titlist Terry Flanagan at home in New Orleans to advance to the semifinals.

The tournament as a whole was in jeopardy over issues of Comosa AG, the tournament overseer failing to pay participants in time. Several boxers threatened legal action, with 140-pound titlist Ivan Baranchyk initially pulling out of the tournament altogether.

That matter has since been resolved, as the unbeaten Russian will face Josh Taylor in his opponent’s backyard of Glasgow, Scotland. The winner of their May 18 clash will face Saturday’s victor in the tournament finals later this year.

Perhaps no other boxer has endured as much tournament drama as Nonito Donaire.

The four-division champ and reigning two-tour bantamweight titlist weighed 117.6 for his makeshift title defense versus tournament alternate Stephon Young, who weighed 117.3 pounds. The bout was finalized just two days ago, as Young agreed to step in for injured titlist Zolani Tete who withdrew earlier this week after suffering tendinitis in his shoulder.

Young (18-1-3) was due to appear on the undercard as a designated tournament alternate, but gladly accepted the upgrade in saving WBSS officials the headache of having to scramble to save the show.

For Donaire (39-5, 25KOs), it’s a second straight tournament-related bout heavily influenced by an opponent suffering an injury. The Fil-Am star advanced to the semifinals following a bizarre stoppage win last November over previously unbeaten titlist Ryan Burnett, who suffered a back injury near the end of the 4th round and was forced to retire in between rounds as he was ultimately carried out of the ring on a stretcher.

The win marked Donaire’s first at bantamweight since 2011, when he last held a title at the weight before moving up the scale. He went on to capture the World super bantamweight championship amidst a four-win campaign in 2012 in earning Fighter of the Year honors.

It hasn’t been quite as smooth since, despite having claimed title wins at featherweight and again at super featherweight. Neither reign lasted particularly long, losing his 126-pound belt in his first defense when Nicholas Walters stopped him in the 6th round of their Oct. ’14 clash. Less than 14 months later, Donaire reclaimed a 122-pound title, surviving a 12-round war with Cesar Juarez to claim a decision in their Dec. ’15 clash.

The reign lasted less than a year, dropping a competitive and somewhat controversial decision to Jesse Magdaleno in Nov. ’16. Following a points loss to former two-division champ Carl Frampton last April, Donaire made the command decision to drop back down two weight divisions, paying off in a big way with the win over Burnett.

Hopes of a unification clash with Tete fell through with the aforementioned injury, but Donaire is now one fight short of the tournament finals. Much like the 140-pound main event, the winner of Saturday’s bantamweight clash will learn their next opponent by May 18, when Naoya Inoue collides with unbeaten titlist Emmanuel Rodriguez on the other side of the divisional tournament bracket.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox