Oscar Duarte and Regis Prograis Prevail on an Action-Packed Card in Chicago

Chicago brought the best out of the Golden Boy Promotions card on Saturday.

Mexico’s pressure fighting Oscar Duarte managed to win by majority decision against Chicago native Kenneth Sims Jr. in an elimination match for the super lightweight title.

Duarte (30-2-1, 23 KOs) brought his pressure fighting style against boxer-puncher Sims (22-3-1) seeking to break him down but found it near impossible to accomplish at the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois.

“I was surprised,” said Duarte about Sims resiliency.

The super lightweight match was spawned months ago when both performed in Anaheim on the same boxing card. Words were exchanged and that resulted in them settling it in the boxing ring.

Duarte, a muscular fighter out of Chihuahua, expected to use his renowned power to batter the more skillful Sims into submission but was unable to accomplish that mission. Instead, Sims found his moments behind jabs and counter-punching that kept Duarte from overwhelming him with power shots.

Each fighter had his moments with Duarte using a body attack to open up avenues for his bludgeoning combinations. Sims used pinpoint catch and counters to steal the thunder from Duarte when he landed big shots.

It was the game plan said Sims.

During the middle of the fight, it seemed Duarte was about to overrun Sims but the Chicago fighter rallied back with snapping jabs and stabbing rights to Duarte’s solar plexus. It stopped the Mexican fighter’s momentum every time.

“I thought I won. Every time he caught me, I caught him right back. That was the game plan to box. I stood my ground as I needed,” explained Sims.

The judges saw it differently 114-114, 116-112, 115-113 for Duarte. Half the crowd in Chicago was disappointed and the other half cheered.

“I think I win the fight. It was a good fight. I expected a war. He is very intelligent fighter with a lot of experience,” said Duarte. “I knew I had to put pressure on him and hit him to the body.”

Sims agreed on one aspect.

“He was relentless,” Sims said.

Former champions collide

When the match was made, many hardcore fans realized quickly it was going to be special and it was between former world champions Regis Prograis and Jojo Diaz.

Prograis (30-3, 24 KOs) used his jab as his primary weapon but barely survived a first-round onslaught by Diaz (34-8-1, 15 KOs) who severely wobbled the legs of the New Orleans native in the opening minutes of the welterweight clash.

“That first big punch woke me up,” said Prograis of being rocked.

It kept getting better from there.

Behind a bullet jab and speedy power combos Prograis raced in front until Diaz was able to make adjustments to the speed. Then the South El Monte fighter began attacking the body and landing overhand lefts that staggered Prograis almost every time they connected.

Prograis showed his typical heart and kept reverting to his bullet jabs to keep Diaz from overrunning him. it wasn’t easy. Diaz, an Olympian in 2012 and former super featherweight champion, knows how to set up an opponent for the perfect punches. He was able to connect over and over again, but Prograis kept absorbing the blows and keeping the momentum in his favor.

Fans were delighted by the back-and-forth action and both fighters soaked in the atmosphere and delivered their best performances in years. The action was nonstop and few moments were left in dead space.

Around the fifth round Diaz began pouring more body shots and combinations as Prograis slowed down with jabs and circling around. The overhand lefts by Diaz were connecting more often and Prograis, though not hurt badly, showed vulnerability. Suddenly the momentum shifted to Diaz who suffered a bad cut over the left eye due to an accidental clash of heads. Bloody faces are a habit for Diaz.

Diaz had more problems with the blood coming down his face than Prograis’s power and kept pressuring him. The New Orleans native seemed to slow in his energy and that allowed Diaz to unleash his combos. At times it looked like one more connect would put Prograis on the mat, but it never happened.

After 10 furious rounds the judges scored the fight 98-92, 96-94 twice for Prograis. It was one of the best fights of the year in 2025 so far.

“Jojo was very tough,” said Prograis. “Tougher than I expected.”

Diaz attributed his improved performance on his new training location in Fort Worth, Texas with former champion Paulie Ayala.

I’ve been working on my power with Paulie Ayala,” said Diaz.

It showed.

Other Bouts

Mexican light heavyweight Yair Gallardo (10-0, 8 KOs) needed all eight rounds to defeat veteran Quinton Rankin (21-10-2, 16 KOs) by decision. He nearly stopped Rankin with a body shot in the sixth round, but the veteran was too experienced for that. Instead, all three judges scored for Gallardo 79-72 twice and 80-71.

Heavyweight prospect Joshua Edwards made quick work out of Cayman Audie. A quick counter-right floored Audie who got up and tried to rumble and was overwhelmed by the former Olympian Edwards. Referee Ben Rodriguez decided to end the fight at 1:29 of the first round.

Tristan Kalkreuth (16-1, 11 KOs) floored late replacement Devonte Williams (13-3, 6 KOs) with an alleged body shot and that led to a bizarre development of whether the fight was over or not Three seconds into the third round the cruiserweight fight was called as a technical knockout win for Kalkreuth.

“Much respect for my opponent coming in as a replacement,” said Kalkreuth.

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy via Getty Images

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE