By Dan Ambrose: It’s now official that Devin Haney will be moving up to 140 to challenge Regis Prograis for his WBC light welterweight title on December 9th on DAZN pay-per-view.
Haney has a similar style as Prograis’ last opponent, Danielito Zorrilla, and’s going to have to cut off the ring better & deal with the jabbing& clinching that Devin will be doing if he’s to win.
Given that this is a PPV event on DAZN, hopefully, Haney doesn’t make it a dull affair as we witnessed in his last three fights against Vasily Lomachenko & George Kambosos Jr.
If fans are going to be charged $60+ for the event on DAZN, they’re going to want to get their money’s worth.
There’s no word yet for the price of the Haney-Prograis event, but fans may need to dig deep for this one because there will be a lot of interest. If your DAZN, pricing it in the $30 range might be mores sensible the to do.
Haney vs. Prograis will take place in the Bay Area at the Chase Center in San Francisco, which is the home city for the 24-year-old Devin (30-0, 15 KOs). Although Haney now lives in Las Vegas, he was born in San Francisco.
Obviously, Matchrooom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn’s decision to put the Haney-Prograis fight on PPV will anger fans, as both fighters are coming off controversial decisions in contests that many felt they deserved to lose.
Ideally, Prograis (29-1,24 Kos) would give his last opponent, Danielito Zorrilla, a rematch, as he fought poorly and looked like he was given a questionable win in front of his home fans in New Orleans.
Of course, the money wouldn’t make it worth it for the 34-year-old Prograis, and Zorrilla is a bad style match-up for him.
For his part, Haney is coming off a very close fight against former three-division world champion Vasily Lomachenko last May.
Haney was booed out of the MGM Grand venue in Las Vegas after the results of the contest were announced.
Interestingly, Haney & his dad, Bill, chose not to give Lomachenko a rematch, which has further hurt his popularity. What made Haney look even worse is he fled the 135-lb division after he was ordered to defend against his WBC mandatory Shakur Stevenson.
As such, Haney is heading into the Prograis fight under a dark cloud, tainting the match-up.
“I picked a focused and hungry champion to invite to my hometown,” said Haney. “Regis is going to be trying to knock me out, and that’s exactly what I need him to be TRYING to do.”
Devin will need to avoid getting hit too often by the powerful Prograis, as he’s shown to have a chin problem in his recent fights, getting hurt by Vasily Lomachenko, Jorge Linares & Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz.
“Haney-Prograis is one of the fights of the year,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing.