By Dan Ambrose: WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis’ promoter Eddie Hearn will be making an offer to Devin Haney to move up from 135 to challenge for the title.
It’s questionable whether Hearn will make a large enough offer to motivate Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) to take the risky fight against Prograis.
At this point, Haney likely as huge dollar signs in his head and wants to cash-out big after his controversial twelve round decision last May against Vasyl Lomachenko.
Hearn will have to dig deep to come up with enough money for Haney to agree to fight Prograis because he’s likely thinking about winning the lottery by transmuting his undisputed lightweight championship into an enormous payday fight against Gervonta Davis.
Haney is aware that the odds of him beating Prograis are slim, which makes the risk too high for him to take. Devin won’t sacrifice his unbeaten record for less than a treasure chamber full of gold.
Haney is going to get the most money he can by using his undisputed 135-lb championship & win over Lomachenko to make retirement money because his career is likely to evaporate overnight once he begins fighting the best at 140.
Despite having lots of talent, Prograis isn’t popular because he was frozen out by the top 140-pounders after his questionable loss to Josh Taylor in 2019.
Haney has options for massive payday clashes against these guys:
– Gervonta Davis
– Shakur Stevenson
– Vasyl Lomachenko – rematch
– Teofimo Lopez
– Josh Taylor
– Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero
Hearn told talkSPORT that he’s going to offer Haney the fight with Prograis after his defense against Danielito Zorrilla next week on June 17th in New Orleans. Haney will be on hand at ringside for the Prograis fight.
The likely rationale is likely for Haney to receive publicity to be in the spotlight with the media. It’s an easy way for Haney to increase his popularity without actually fighting by just being at the Prograis-Zorilla event.
Haney is likely to wait and see if he can get the Tank Davis fight at 135. If not, he’ll move up to 140 and go after the biggest money clash he can, which is either Ryan Garcia or Teofimo Lopez. There’s also a possibility that Haney would entertain a rematch with Lomachenko if the offer is large enough.
One thing is for certain. Haney won’t fight Shakur Stevenson because his dad, Bill, hasn’t shown any interest in fighting his WBC mandatory.
Haney will have to give up his WBC belt to avoid fighting Shakur, which he’ll do if he can’t get the Tank Davis fight or if the money isn’t big enough to fight Lomachenko again.