Regis Prograis sparred eight rounds Monday afternoon in Santa Monica, California.

That was after the former WBA 140-pound champion learned that his fight with Maurice Hooker won’t take place April 17 in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Prograis (24-1, 20 KOs) was supposed to face Dallas’ Hooker (27-1-3, 18 KOs) that night in a 12-round, 143-pound main event at MGM National Harbor, but their fight was postponed indefinitely Monday, along with numerous boxing cards, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Prograis wants to stay sharp, though, and remains hopeful that their fight will be rescheduled soon.

“I’m still training just like it’s gonna happen,” Prograis told BoxingScene.com. “I really don’t think it’s gonna happen on that particular date, but I’m still training just like it’s gonna happen. Of course, mentally, it can be distracting. But for me, it is what it is and I’m just gonna keep training, keep doing what I’m doing.”

The 31-year-old Prograis understands the extremely serious nature of this pandemic, yet the New Orleans native also realizes he must be prepared to fight in May or June in the event his fight is rescheduled for within that time frame.

“I just wanna stay ready,” Prograis explained. “That’s my job, to stay ready. Anything can happen. Even though I don’t think it’s gonna happen on April 17th, I think it still will happen at a later date, maybe May or June or something like that. But as far as April 17th, I don’t see that happening at all. Nevertheless, I’m still in camp, I’m still training, I’m still sparring, still doing all my regular workouts.”

Prograis typically trains at Churchill Boxing Club in Santa Monica, but he will move his camp at some point this week to his adopted hometown of Houston. The strong southpaw’s trainer, Bobby Benton, flew back to Houston after their training session Monday to be with his family.

Prograis relocated to Houston once Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans 14 years ago. He also trained in Houston for much of his career and has a lot of family members who still live there.

“Hopefully, they’ll let us know something soon,” Prograis said. “Right now, we’re just taking it day by day. Like I said, I’m still training like I’m supposed to be. But if they tell us a later date, late May or early June, we’ll take a break, calm it down and then pick it back up when it’s supposed to be.” 

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