By Adam Baskin: Devin Haney has been given a six-day extension by the WBC until July 27th to decide whether he’ll defend against Shakur Stevenson at 135 or move up to 140 to battle Regis Prograis.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman says this was a petition by Haney & Prograis, which means those two need additional time to negotiate a deal.
Sadly, it seems Shakur (20-0, 10 KOs) is the odd man out and won’t get his chance to school Haney to become the undisputed lightweight champion. Most believe that Haney feels he can’t beat Shakur, so he’s an enemy to avoid.
Boxing fans were hoping that Haney would be courageous and choose to stay at 135 to face Shakur, but it appears the Oakland, California native has decided to take on the vulnerable WBC 140-lb champ Prograis.
A victory over Devin would have taken the 26-year-old Stevenson’s career to the next level, making him the man at 135 to marginalize WBA secondary champion Gervonta Davis.
According to Dan Rafael, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn made the request to the WBC to give him more time to put together the Prograis vs. Haney bout.
The @WBCBoxing Board of Governors has granted the request the petition by both @RPrograis & @Realdevinhaney until next Thursday 27 of July
— Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) July 21, 2023
That’s good news for WBC light welterweight champion Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) that Haney has decided to go in the direction of challenging him for his belt because this is the only chance of getting a significant payday before he’s dethroned.
Prograis almost lost his last fight against the unheralded Danielito Zorrilla last June, winning a questionable twelve round split decision in his hometown of New Orleans.
All the vulnerabilities that Zorrilla exposed in Prograis’ game in that fight are ones that Haney can exploit quite easily.
This move by Haney to go in the direction of Prograis isn’t unexpected because no one believed that he would stay at 135 to tangle with Shakur Stevenson, especially after his controversial 12 round unanimous decision win over Vasily Lomachenko last May.
Lomachenko showed that Haney lacks the ability to have a long reign as champion at lightweight. Haney is just a good B-level fighter that collected all the 135-lb belts in one fight by beating the weak unified champ George Kambosos Jr.
Shakur will battle for the WBC lightweight title once it’s vacated by Haney, possibly against #1 Lomachenko. If Loma doesn’t want the fight, it would come down to one of these contenders in the WBC’s top teen rankings to fight Shakur for the vacant belt:
3. Isaac Cruz
4. William Zepeda
5. Frank Martin
6. Edwin De Los Santos
7. Jamaine Ortiz
8. Artem Harutyunyan
9. Shuichiro Yoshino
10. Raymond Muratalla