By Dan Ambrose: Devin Haney worked with legendary coach Freddie Roach today on pads, getting in work to prepare himself for his title challenge against WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis on December 9th at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Usually, the 24-year-old Haney trains with his dad, Bill, and Ben Davison, but he’s getting in some extra work with Roach. Freddie looks like he’s holding up well despite having Parkinson’s.
Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) looked good today working with Roach, but it remains to be seen whether he’ll let his hands go against Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs). Devin always looks good on pads, but when it comes to his fights, he jabs, moves & holds.
We’ve seen how Haney turned into a grappler in his last three fights, doing a lot of wrestling & holding with his opponents each time they got near. The bad experience that Haney had in his fight with Jorge Linares, getting hurt numerous times, has transformed his game into a mauler.
It’s essential that Haney look good against Prograis because their fight will be shown live on DAZN PPV on December 9th. If Devin wants to become a pay-per-view attraction, he’s got to be more entertaining, not hold as he did in his fights with Vasily Lomachechenko & George Kambosos Jr.
“It was still up in the air what he was going to do because Devin is undisputed at 135. So that means he has a lot of options, and I didn’t know if he was going to fight me or not,” said Regis Prograis to Cigar Talk about Devin Haney.
Interestingly, Prograis is the B-side attraction in this fight, even though he’s the defending champion and Haney the challenger. Haney’s popularity has increased rapidly due to his capturing the undisputed lightweight champion with his win over George Kambosos Jr. and his recent victory over Vasily Lomachenko.
“I can’t look over Devin, but after Devin, either a belt or a big fight,” said Prograis. “That’s all I want. Right now, I’m at a stage where I don’t want prospects. You got to do work. I’m a two-time world champion. These dudes never even became a champion before.”
Prograis’ promoter, Eddie Hearn, hasn’t been as vocal about what’s next for him if defeats Haney. Eddie almost seems to believe that Haney will win, so he’s mainly talking about his plans, which could be against Ryan Garcia or Teofimo Lopez.
“When I was 16-0, I wasn’t calling out no champions. Terence Crawford was a champion. You have to earn your place. Yeah, you can look good against somebody and call somebody out, but you got to earn your spot,” said Prograis.