In a beautiful contrast of styles, Oscar Duarte applied 12 rounds of pressure to a slick and prepared Kenneth simms Jr to get a majority decision in Simms’ hometown of Chicago by scores of 116-112, 115-113, and 114-114. ITRBoxing scored the fight 115-113 for Duarte. 

Duarte’s constant pressure won him the day, but just as you would think that he was pulling away with the fight Simms would outbox Duarte pretty thoroughly for a round, notably the fifth and the eighth to take the play away. The 12th was a close one too, and for me , giving it to Duarte, was the difference between the win for Duarte and a draw, it was that close of a fight. 

Duarte (30-2-1, 23 ko), who has always been a high-quality pressure fighter seems to be peeking under the tutelage of Robert Garcia. There’s more variety in his work and he puts himself in better position to throw with his feet now than he did earlier in his career; less predictable, less stiff, more of a threat and potentially one of the top guys in the division. For Simms (22-3-1, 8 ko) while this must be massively disappointing, it is yet another quality performance from him, and one that proves that he too belongs in with the best at 140 pounds. These right here are the kinds of matchups that keep boxing exciting, two legitimate top 10 contenders fighting a mandatory for a vacant title, both thoroughly deserving and in their prime, in front of engaged homegrown fanbases.

Prograis and Diaz Turn Back the Clock in Classic

In what was a much more exciting fight than anticipated Regis Prograis (30-3, 24 ko) squeaked out a brutal unanimous decision over JoJo Diaz (34-8-1, 15 ko) by scores of 98-92 and two scores of 96–94, which seemed more appropriate, though ITR boxing scored the fight 96-94 for Diaz.

The fight was a contrast of Prograis offense, which was flowing beautifully behind a jab and quick combinations, and Diaz’s seemingly newfound punching power, which seemed to affect Prograis with every clean shot throughout the course of a fight, which, at least for me swung some of the close rounds in favor of Diaz. There were however long stretches were Prograis just out-hustled Diaz and put together a lot of unanswered combinations, which showed on Diaz’s face by the end of the fight. It was a Gatti-Ward type of occasion, two guys that people are saying or seemingly at the end putting on a classic for us in hopes of getting another high profile opportunity. And in this case, I’d really like to see them run it back.

The mantra of the fight seemed to be that this was a “loser go home” “must win” “do they have anything left in the tank?” type of fight. The outcome we are left with is a little bit more complicated. Prograis clearly still has handspeed and good foot work when his feet are under him, but his punch resistance is not what it once was, a final defense in brutal fights with punchers like Josh taylor and Jose Zepeda. Diaz on the other hand, fighting at a weight much higher than what he was at his best showed the fire, desire, and punch variety that made him a star 5-6 years ago, but despite having Prograis hurt for the entirety of the fight never got him out of there. So, are they what they once were in their primes? No. Do they have more in the tank? Definitely. if they retired today would this be the perfect spot to do it? In my opinion, yes.