By Keith Idec

Regis Prograis issued a warning to his 140-pound competitors following his four-knockdown, second-round destruction of Julius Indongo.

“This dude is a former two-time world champion,” Prograis told Showtime’s Steve Farhood after knocking out Indongo. “Terence Crawford knocked him out in the third. I got him out of in the second. I had to come make a statement. The 140-pound division is mine. There’s nobody that can mess with me. They know that.”

Prograis produced the most noteworthy win of his six-year pro career by flooring Indongo once in the first round and three times during the second round of a fight Showtime televised from Deadwood, South Dakota. Referee Ian John-Lewis stopped the fight at 2:54 of the second round.

It marked a second straight fight in which Prograis dropped his opponent four times on his way to winning by second-round knockout.

In his previous appearance, the knockout artist from New Orleans dropped previously unbeaten Joel Diaz Jr. (23-1, 19 KOs) four times in the second round, before their scheduled 10-rounder was stopped June 9 in Verona, New York. Dominating Indongo (22-2, 11 KOs) was even more impressive because the Namibian southpaw was the IBF/IBO/WBA 140-pound champion before Crawford knocked him out with a body shot in the third round August 19 in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Prograis also won the WBC’s interim 140-pound championship by beating Indongo. He is supposed to fight the winner of the Amir Imam-Jose Ramirez match March 17 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden (ESPN).

Imam (21-1, 18 KOs), of Albany, New York, and Ramirez (21-0, 16 KOs), of Avenal, California, will fight for the unclaimed WBC super lightweight title Crawford relinquished to move up to the welterweight division last year.

Prograis was supposed to box Ukraine’s Viktor Postol (29-1, 12 KOs) on Friday night. Postol pulled out of the fight nearly a month ago, though, because the former WBC champ said he fractured his thumb during training camp.

“I know Amir Imam and Ramirez is fighting next week for the official belt,” Prograis said. “It should be mine. I got this belt. It’s cool, though. But these dudes not gonna fight me. Postol, I know why you didn’t fight me now. You see why you didn’t fight me.”

Prograis, who relocated from New Orleans to Houston during Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, plans to attend the Imam-Ramirez fight.

First, he’ll sit ringside for the Mikey Garcia-Sergey Lipinets title fight Saturday night in San Antonio. Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs), of Oxnard, California, will attempt to become a world champion in a fourth weight class when he challenges Kazakhstan’s Lipinets (13-0, 10 KOs) for his IBF junior welterweight title at Freeman Coliseum (Showtime; 10:15 p.m. ET).

“I’m gonna go to the Mikey fight tomorrow,” Prograis said. “I’m gonna fly back [to Houston] and then go to San Antonio. I’m gonna go to that fight, see how that’s looking. Then we’re gonna go to New York … for the official WBC title [fight].”

 Prograis discussed facing Garcia with BoxingScene.com before beating Indongo on Friday night (https://www.boxingscene.com/prograis-fans-demand-me-mikey-garcia-fight-one-day--126058).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.