Regis Prograis wondered what was going on when the purse he received for winning the WBC super lightweight title bounced this week.
The two-time world champion, who defeated Jose Zepeda on Pay Per View last weekend, deposited the $1.2m check at a new bank set up by Legendz Entertainment.
Once Prograis was told the money wasn’t coming, he flipped out.
Regis Prograis check bounces
“I deposited my fight check Monday while I was in LA. Today the bank emailed me saying the check bounced because of insufficient funds.
“Somebody better find out what’s going on,” said the WBC ruler.
Soon after, Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports stated that Prograis had received at least half of his money later that same day.
The substantial amount came from a $2.4m purse bid won by MarvNation, double the amount bid by Premier Boxing Champions and Al Haymon.
Bank problem
Roger Ruiz, a spokesperson for Legendz, revealed the problem to Iole and Yahoo Sports.
“Because the account, opened at a Wells Fargo bank branch in Downey, California, was new. Also, a lot of money in large amounts was going in and out of it in a short period, and the bank put a brief hold on it, Ruiz explained.
He added: “We opened the account, I don’t know, in the last month. There wasn’t much going on with it. In the previous week, there was a lot of activity in and out of the account,
“They saw so much money suddenly in and out of the account that they decided to put a hold on it. Regis is the only one who didn’t get paid [on time].”
Ruiz was also the one who claimed Prograis was now in receipt of at least $600,000.
Social media blew up over the matter as reports swirled that MarvNation would join the long list of promoters who couldn’t pay for a Pay Per View venture.
This turned out not to be the case, according to Ruiz, who says Prograis will have all his funds as soon as the bank clears it.
No other fighter on the bill has any similar claims yet.
