By Dan Ambrose: Regis Prograis’ strength & conditioning coach Evins Tobler says he sees Devin Haney, his dad Bill, and his team as hovering “vultures” that enjoy “dead” things. They look for struggling fighters, then swoop down on them to feed.
The way that Haney picked off the vulnerable champion George Kambosos Jr, Jorge Linares, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz, and Vasily Lomachenko were examples of how Devin likes to feed off weakened prey.
Tobler says Bill scouted out WBC light welterweight champion Regis’ last fight against Danielito Zorrilla last June in New Orleans and spotted weakness. From there, they pulled the trigger on the fight, choosing to face him to try and dethrone him.
Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) will challenge Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) in the main event on December 9th on DAZN PPV at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
Tobler feels that Haney made a mistake selecting Prograis because he’s going to be in a war, and he won’t be able to run his way to victory like he’s done in the past.
Prograis will need to cut off the ring better against Haney than he did his last opponent, Danielito Zorrilla because he couldn’t get to him to force the action last June.
Regis’ popularity took a big hit from that fight, as many boxing fans have written him off ever since and aren’t giving him much chance of beating Devin. In that one fight, Prograis went from being viewed as the #1 guy at 140 to a shot fighter who is arguably the worst of the four champions.
Prograis going to war
“What is Haney going to do when he gets hit? What is he going to do? He’s going to have to take that onslaught. It’s going to be a war. We’re ready for war, and it’s not going to be an easy run around the ring,” said Evins Tobler to MillCity Boxing, making it clear that Devin Haney is in a world of hurt on December 9th when he battles WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis.
Keys for Prograis to defeat Haney
- Cut off the ring better
- Fight through the clinch- It’s important that Prograis not relax in the clinch because Haney will use the opportunity to sneak in shots. He did that repeatedly with Kambosos. He’d hold and act like it’s a simple clinch but then sneak in hard shots right before breaking the clinch.
- Focus on power shots to the head: Haney’s punch resistance isn’t the best, as he’s been hurt in several of his fights in recent years, including his last against Vasily Lomachenko.
- Nonstop pressure. You can’t let Haney fight at a slow pace because he’ll get the better of the action, and win rounds. Once Haney has a big lead, he’ll be on his bike and won’t let Prograis get near him.
“We’re going to be ready to go after him. He’s not going to be able to run, and the fans want to see a fight. Who wants to see a runner?” Tobler continued, talking about Haney, who has a nasty habit of moving & clinching.
Prograis should know by now what he’s getting himself into by facing Haney because he’s a guy who moves a lot, jabs, and ties up his opponents. Those are the three things Haney does nonstop, and he likes to rough up his opponents in the clinch.
Haney won’t have it easy
“Come on and fight, bro. You already sold the fans short by not giving Shakur a fight by running from Tank and running from Shakur. You stuck,” said Tobler. “Like I said, they’re like vultures. They sat around and waited for a bad performance [from Prograis].
“They like dead s**t,” said Tobler on why he says the Haney’s are “vultures.” “They hover around, hover around. His dad [Bill Haney] came to New Orleans and saw a not-so-good performance by Regis Prograis [against Danielito Zorrilla], and now he wants to jump on it. Now, he thinks he’s got some easy prey.”
It’s important for Prograis to prove Haney, Bill & his team that they got it wrong about him being lame and ready to be picked apart on December 9th because he looked that way against Zorrilla.
Prograis hasn’t been all that active in the last four years, fighting just five times since losing to Josh Taylor in 2019. That was a disappointing performance from Prograis because he didn’t adjust until later in the fight and played to Taylor’s strengths by battling him on the inside.
It was a crazy thing for Prograis because that’s the main area that Taylor is good at, and he chose to fight him at close range and got worked over.
When Prograis finally did move the action to the outside, he dominated Taylor in the same way Teofimo Lopez did, but it was too late.
Regis had given away too many rounds trying to brawl with Taylor on the inside and wound up losing a fight that could have gone either way. But with it being in London, England, the judges naturally gave it to the UK fighter Taylor.
“That’s the wrong thing to jump on. He’s in trouble,” said Tobler. “That’s what they do. They did the same thing with [George] Kambosos. They ran up there [to Australia] and got those belts real quick. Ran past everybody else.
“Then they think they’re going to get an easy [fight]. This ain’t going to be an easy fight,” Tobler said about what Haney can expect from Prograis. “He’s going to find out. Devin Haney is going to get hit. Let’s see what he does. It’s going to be 36 minutes of war.”
It’ll be interesting to see if Prograis can get to the fleet of foot Haney and get past his jab, which he’ll be firing frequently. Again, Regis will need to fight much better than he did in his last fight against Zorrilla if he wants to hold onto his WBC 140-lb belt.
“I’m telling you right now. The fight is NOT going ten rounds,” said Tobler. “He [Haney] don’t have it. I have nothing against private school education. What I have a problem with is you’re acting like that guy. The son [Haney], he don’t know violence. Regis Prograis, he knows violence. It’s going to be real violence.
“There’s a level of want. He’s [Haney] been spoonfed. Nobody knew that he went to a private school, did they? I did my research,” said Tobler.
