Former 140-pound champion Regis Prograis wants to reinsert himself back into the world title picture, but sanctioning body shenanigans keep pushing him away. 

On Friday, Josh Taylor vacated his WBC 140-pound junior welterweight crown instead of moving forward with a mandatory defense against Jose Zepeda, and the sanctioning body ordered a bout between Jose Ramirez and Zepeda. 

On May 14, Taylor was stripped of his WBA title after failing to come to terms for a mandatory title defense against Alberto Puello. The WBA has since ordered a fight between Puello and Batyr Akhmedov, with Ismael Barroso in line to face the winner. 

Once the undisputed champion, the WBO and IBF titlist Taylor is now zeroing in on a rematch against Jack Caterall following their highly competitive and much disputed fight in which Taylor sneaked by via split decision. 

The series of events have left the 33-year-old Prograis (27-1, 23 KOs) – who’s lone career loss came to Taylor in 2019 in a fight of the year contender – on the outside of the world title picture looking in. 

“It’s just funny to me at this point,” a frustrated Prograis wondered out loud on Twitter on Friday afternoon. “Now ya'll tell me this. Answer me this, right. How are two f------- titles vacant, and I'm not fighting for either one of them? That sh!t doesn't make sense. What the f--- is going on? Like for real? What is going on? How am I not fighting for either one of them? This sh!t is insane. This sh!t is not making sense. I'm f------- ... I don't even know what to say. Somebody fix this please.”

Prograis’ last fight in March was a WBC super lightweight title eliminator against Tyrone McKenna. “Rougarou” scored a sixth-round stoppage in the bout. 

In May, the WBA ordered a hearing with six contenders, including Prograis, to determine who'd have the shot for the division’s crown. 

Prograis is currently ranked No. 3 by the WBC, No. 5 by the IBF and No. 6 by both the WBO and WBA. 

A fight between Prograis and Ramirez would have been a barnburner, but the WBC instead chose to order a rematch between Ramirez and Zepeda, who fought in 2019, with Ramirez scoring a majority decision. 

Ramirez is a former 140-pound WBC champion who also has lost his title to Taylor.

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.