Regis Prograis believes Devin Haney has enjoyed an “easy, privileged” life, going to private schools, and not facing the hardship he did while growing up.
WBC light welterweight champion Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) feels he’s going to expose Haney (30-0,15 KOs) as a “manufactured fighter” on December 9th when the two meet on DAZN PPV at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
The Bay Area-born 24-year-old Haney has got his work cut out for him in this fight with the older, stronger, and more experienced Prograis because this will be Devin’s first contest in the 140-lb weight class.
It’s a risky move for the former undisputed lightweight champion Haney to fight for a world title against one of the best fighters in the 140-lb division in his first bout at this weight.
Haney insists he’s on “different level” than Prograis
“No, he doesn’t know what he’s getting into. Absolutely not. Nah, you don’t,” said Regis Prograis to DAZN Boxing when asked if Devin Haney knows what he’s getting into by facing him on December 9th.
“I’m scared to look in your eyes because I’m going to hurt you,” said Regis.
Can Prograis start in where Lomachenko left off?
Haney had all kinds of problems in his last fight against Vasily Lomachenko, getting outboxed and outworked by the smaller, older fighter last May at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Lomachenko, who is not a big puncher, had Haney hurt at one point, and appeared to have done enough down the stretch to earn the victory, but the judges gave it to the A-side fighter, Devin, by a questionable decision.
The fans at ringside loudly booed the decision and continued to boo during Haney’s entire post-fight interview. If Prograis can follow the Lomachenko blueprint by using pressure against Haney, he could win or lose a controversial decision, which wouldn’t hurt his career.
“You’re a one-trick pony. I’m going to show you. I’m going to take it away from you,” said Devin Haney to Prograis. “After that, you won’t be able to do nothing. You couldn’t hurt your last opponent [Danielito Zorrilla]. I’m on a total different level to him.
“In his fights, he does the same thing, over and over,” said Haney when asked why he thinks Prograis is a ‘One-trick pony,’ and when that don’t work, everything goes out the window. He don’t know what to do. he’s lost.”
“Good, I’m glad you think that. Keep thinking that,” said Prograis.
Regis’ last opponent, Danielito Zorrilla, used speed, power punching and a lot of movement to give him fits last June.
Haney doesn’t possess the same power or hand speed as Zorrilla, and he’s not as unorthodox or unpredictable as that fighter. That guy was like a landmine for Prograis, and he couldn’t figure him out.
When he would corner Zorrilla, he’d get caught by huge shots that would stop him in his momentum. Against Haney, Prograis won’t need to worry as much because his style is fairly constant, and he doesn’t pack C4 plastic explosive in both hands like Zorrilla.
“What are you, 32 or 33? You ain’t going to do nothing different. He ain’t going to learn. He’s been doing the same thing his whole career,” said Haney. “It’s not nothing he can go in the gym and work on and change. On fight night, it’s going to be the same thing he been doing.”
Prograis says Haney saw weakness
“Of course, that’s what I’m saying,” said Prograis when asked if the reason Haney chose him is because of the way he fought in his last fight against Zorrilla last June in New Orleans. “He came because of that.”
It’s pretty much established already that the main reason Haney picked out Prograis was due to his confused, timid, and lackluster performance against Danielto Zorrilla.
The way that Prograis looked in that fight, the vultures began circling overhead, sniffing out dead food.
Regis looked like he was ready to be picked off, and he was lucky the judges gave him the decision against Zorrilla because a lot of boxing fans think he lost that fight.
“I called him out before that, before he had a bad performance,” said Haney. “I wanted to make the fight regardless. He really didn’t want to fight me.”
“I didn’t want to fight you? What are you talking about,” said Prograis.
“You wanted to fight another fight; you wanted to fight a tune-up. You wanted to fight a stay-busy fight, and then it was like, ‘Alright, maybe, we’ll fight,'” said Haney about Regis not wanting to face him initially.
“Listen, I was like, ‘Maybe let’s build it up, but now, let’s fight Devin. We going to fight Devin,” said Prograis. “I didn’t have to fight you. I could have defended against somebody else. Why not fight you. What are you talking about?”
Prograis had already said that he wanted a tune-up fight after his shaky performance against Zorrilla, so it was silly for him to deny what was already out there in the open.
But what was crazy on his part was the idea of trying to marinate the fight with Haney, because he’s too old to be letting that match-up build in a Mayweather-esque type of manner.
Also, after the Zorrilla fight, Prograis should have recognized that he’s not good enough to delay the Haney match-up, because the chances are high that he’d be dethroned by the WBC-ranked contenders, Sandor Martin or Gary Antuanne Russell.
“I closed in on you. You had to fight me,” said Haney. “Why did you want to fight somebody else?
“I was thinking about a tune-up and then get you after that,” said Prograis.
“You been at 140 for how long? You the champion,” said Haney.
“Not a tune-up. I have my mandatory [Sandor Martin],” said Prograis.
“I’m your mandatory,” said Haney.
Devin had a “privileged life”
“You’re not my mandatory,” said Prograis. “I’m here now. What’s your excuse now? I’m right here now. You’re not my mandatory. Because you had it easy,” said Prograis when asked why he called Haney a ‘Manufactured’ fighter.
“You had it easy, bro. You had an easy, privileged life. How many jobs you had in your life? Where you worked at?” said Prograis to Devin.
It’s unclear what private school Haney went to in the Bay Area. Was it Bellarmine Prep, Sacred Heart, St. Francis, or Menlo School? Those are all highly expensive private schools in the Bay Area.
“This is the only job I’ve had,” said Haney about him being a boxer his whole life. “I put my all into it.”
“There you go,” said Prograis. “I struggled to get here.”
“I put my all into this s***, and that’s why I’m here,” said Haney.
“I’m here too, and I did all that s***,” said Prograis.
“I’m going to beat the s*** out of you,” said Haney.
“You’re going to get hurt, bro. You never had a street fight,” said Prograis.
“You think I never had a street fight?” said Haney.
“You said it. Private school, oh, man,” said Prograis.
“I didn’t even go to school. What are you talking about?” said Haney.
“That’s even worse,” said Prograis. “You a manufactured kid. That’s good.”
“I dropped out of the seventh grade to be here right now,” said Haney. “You’re 34, I’m 24.”
“We’re in the same position, and I’m right here,” said Prograis.
“I’m 24, you’re 34,” continued Haney. “I’m going to show you at 24.”
Prograis has the punching power to end Haney’s vision of becoming a two-division world champion, but he’s going to have to find a way to deliver his shots.
Haney will likely stay outside the entire night and tie Regis up each time he gets close enough to land his B83 bombs. If Prograis can hit Haney with any of those massive shots, the blast area would be enormous, leaving nothing of Devin.
