By Sean Jones: Regis Prograis & Devin Haney traded trash talk over Facetime after Regis’ successful title defense of his WBC light welterweight strap against the talented Danielito Zorrilla last Saturday night at the Smoothie Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Haney’s dad, Bill, is interested in matching him against Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) next, and promoter Eddie Hearn says that’s the fight he will try and make.
Ultimately, it could be up to Haney to decide because he’ll be the A-side with the most options.
It would be a dangerous fight for Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) to take in his first fight at 140, but if he stays at 135, he will be expected to face Shakur Stevenson or Gervonta Davis next.
Regis Prograis: “I’m going to tell you in front of your dad. I’m going to whip your a**. ”
Bill Haney: “Don’t start telling in front of me, though.”
Prograis: “Don’t get that one performance f***ed up. I’m going to bust you a**. It ain’t going to be like that with you. I hope we see each other next, though.”
If you balance it out, Prograis is the easiest option for Haney because we saw in his fight against Zorrilla that he couldn’t fight from long range. Prograis’ arms are too short, and he’s not pulling the trigger on the inside like he used to do.
Regis’ loss to Josh Taylor may have sapped his self-confidence because he got beaten up in close by the Scottish fighter all night.
Devin likely sees Prograis as food after the weakness he showed against Zorrilla.
Regis looked like he lacked confidence after he was dropped by a straight right from Zorrilla in round one and almost knocked down a second time in the fourth by the same right hand from the Puerto Rican knockout artist.
Prograis almost didn’t get past Zorrilla (17-2, 13 KOs), who showed he’s a diamond in the rough and would have won the fight if he’d stood in the pocket longer instead of moving needlessly.
Zorrilla was getting the better of Prograis all night when he was stationary, so moving as much as he did around the ring was self-defeating. The scores were 117-110, 118-109 for Prograis, and 114-113 for Zorrilla.
Prograis has some tough choices for his next fight if he doesn’t get the Haney match-up, as Hearn wants to match him against the Richardson Hitchins vs. Montana Love winner or Jack Catterall. Those are tough fighters that will beat him if he’s passive & afraid to throw punches as we saw in his win over Zorrilla.