Regis Prograis and Josh Taylor will forever be linked for giving fans a fight of the year candidate in their October super lightweight unification bout, a majority decision win by Taylor.

Taylor was caught celebrating his big win shamefully last week when he racially abused a bouncer at a nightclub in Edinburgh and was thrown out. He was fined, and also pleaded not guilty to possessing cocaine.

“I hope he doesn’t self destruct,” Prograis told BoxingScene.com in an interview. “He’s on top of the world right now, and I hope that he doesn’t f--- it up. Nobody's invincible no matter the fame or money. There is always something that can bring you down. I hope he’s not brought down with all of the sh-t he’s doing out there. I don’t f--- with cocaine, drinking and drugs and all that sh-t. That’s not the kind of person that I am.”

Prograis is looking to return in March or April in 2020, but wants to right the only wrong on his record by meeting Taylor again.

“I definitely want the rematch. Before my career is over, I want it, for sure, eventually. It’s not OK if I don’t fight him again. Does it have to be immediately? On my side, yes, but on the business side, it doesn’t. He’s had a lot of hard fights. Let him take an easier opponent … and we’ll see what happens after that,” said Prograis “Sometimes in boxing you don’t get those fights back to back [after a loss.] We’ll see. So many doors open up, and so many others close. It’s hard to figure it out.”

Two months after the fight of his life, Prograis feels he did enough to come away with the victory against Taylor.

“I learned a lot about myself, and boxing in general,” said Prograis. “I still feel that I did enough to win the fight. I'm not going to lie. It was a real close fight, that’s why I can’t complain. They didn’t rob me. Since I started boxing, my mindset is that if I hit you and hurt you, and you hit me back and don’t hurt me, I automatically win the fight. This time, it wasn't the case, even though I buzzed him. He was big, strong and aggressive, but he never hurt me.”

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk.akopyan@gmail.com.