A smug Bill Haney, still basking in the glory of his son Devin’s victory, took to social media today to take the opportunity to throw a snide comment at Regis Prograis’ dejected strength coach Evins Tobler, gloating about Devin’s victory over the WBC light welterweight champion from last Saturday night in San Francisco.
(Photo credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.)
Bill has been drinking in the nonstop praise from fans over Haney’s victory over Prograis last weekend, and it wasn’t enough to satisfy him, as he had to dump on Tobler at his lowest moment.
You can only imagine the Cheshire cat smile on Bill’s face as he sent the message to the beleaguered coach. No doubt, Bill is enjoying this moment of glory, his 15 minutes of fame, and couldn’t help but let Tobler know that this is what happens when you mess with the Haneys.
Gloating over the enemy’s demise
Bill felt he had to remind Prograis’ defeated coach Tobler, whom he called “Big dummy,” that he had “promised” ahead of time that they would win. It looks bad when the winner gloats like a troll after their win, showing poor sportsmanship.
Haney’s performance had a Mayweather aspect to it in terms of being on the dull, safety-first size, where he was punching and getting out of the way of return fire.
“Tobler, just like we promised you, big dummy,” said Bill Haney on Instagram in a mean-spirited message to Regis Prograis’ strength & conditioning coach Evins Tobler, showing a classic example of poor sportsmanship.
“Regis Prograis, I got your 2x champ if you have any more trouble with your homework.”
Apparently, it’s not enough that Bill’s son, Devin, was victorious, pitching a twelve round shutout against the old lion, 35-year-old Prograis (29-2, 24.
Devin Haney’s father/trainer Bill Haney with a message for Regis Prograis’ strength-and-conditioning coach Evins Tobler on Instagram today… pic.twitter.com/IBpWiT59ou
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) December 11, 2023
You can picture Bill Haney sitting in his mansion, fingers trembling with glee as he sent his parting shot to his vanquished enemy, Tobler, finishing him off with the coup de grace, like a Roman gladiator.
Devin has received a lot of comments from fans on social media for his boxing masterclass, but if you look at the fight in terms of entertainment value, it wasn’t very exciting.
That’s if you are honest and think for yourself rather than looking at the comments, and letting others do the thinking for you. Haney was very, very boring and always has been.
This was on another level in terms of being a boring performance from him, and if there was a competition between him and Shakur Stevenson, those two would share the honors for the dullest fight of the year.
Prograis couldn’t land his artillary
“I never anticipated that we would be talking about a complete shutout where the only knockdown of the fight came from Devin Haney. This was an absolute boxing clinic,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN Boxing: Haney vs. Prograis: After the Bell.
“Regis Prograis had a tremendous left hand. He didn’t land many of them. He didn’t land many punches. 36 punches Regis Prograis landed in this fight. While Devin Haney was being a defensive wizard, he was landing some power shots.”
When you’re facing a runner like Haney, you got to have something that can neutralize all that movement. Prograis didn’t have clue one what to do to keep Devin from running all over creation, and he wasn’t willing to rough him the way he needed to.
“He put Regis down once, he buckled him several more times. I’ve seen some good performances from Devin Haney. This one was clearly the best. I said before tonight that Devin Haney is one of the most disciplined fighters in the sport today.
“When he gets a game plan, he sticks to it. It’s almost impossible to get him to deviate from that game plan, and he’s only gotten better at that as he’s gotten older,” said Mannix.
Haney would have deviated from his game plan if he was confident that his chin would hold up under the artillery fire from Prograis, but he had no self-belief that he could handle those shots. Hence, he stayed on the move, using the hit-and-run approach, and man, did he make it boring.
That fight was on the level of the Shakur Stevenson vs. Edwin De Los Santos contest in terms of being boring to watch.
“In this fight, he had a game plan to move to the level of Regis Prograis to stay away from that left hand. Keep sticking with the right hand, not get over-anxious,” said Mannix. “The couple of times that he had Prograis hurt, a different fighter might have rushed in and tried to flurry, look for a big shot.
“That’s how you get in trouble against a big puncher like Regis Prograis. Devin Haney didn’t do that. He was disciplined all night long, and that’s why he walked away with a flawless victory.
“We made the Mayweather comparison before the show. Devin Haney is not there yet, don’t worry. Devin Haney is not on that Mayweather level yet, but for 25 and under, he’s as accomplished as Floyd Mayweather was, or at least on par on a lot of those accomplishments,” said Mannix.
Haney is only similar to Mayweather in the dislike that fans have about him and the way that he picks out his opponents, cherry-picking guys at the weak point of their careers the way Floyd did. Other than that,
Haney is like a poor man’s version of Mayweather inside the ring. He’s not fast of hand like Floyd, and he doesn’t stay in the pocket.
Mayweather never moved as much as Haney, as he would stand, pick off shots and counter-punch with blistering speed. Haney can’t do that because he lacks the speed, defense, and chin.
“Look around. Floyd Mayweather landed big shots and took chances when he had to, but he never deviated from his game plan either,” said Mannix. “Him and his father had a great game plan. Him and his jungle had great game plans. So Devin Haney is kind of following that path, and he’s incredibly successful.”
It sounds like Mannix wasn’t around when Mayweather was fighting because he was landing big shots in his career, not after he moved up to welterweight. Mayweather had no power to speak of.
“That’s a real prospect,” said Mannix about Haney possibly moving up to 147. “I’d like to see him stay at 140 because I think that is the best division in all of boxing because I think there are some huge money fights for him.”
Let’s get this straight. Haney ain’t moving up to 147, no way. It’s too dangerous up there, and he doesn’t look like a total chicken running from the new King of the division, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
If Haney moves up to 147 and is elevated to WBC champion after beating Mario Barrios, he’s going to be laughed out of the weight class, and his career will quickly become a footnote in history.
Will Haney get his dream fight against Tank now?
“I think a Devin vs. Tank Davis fight is enormous. Tank Davis is one of the biggest stars in all of boxing,” said Mannix. “Devin Haney is one of the most accomplished, especially among younger fighters. That would do a huge gate. It would do a great number on pay-per-view.
“At 140. Tank has fought at 140 before. He came up to fight Mario Barrios and won a [WBA light welterweight] secondary title. There’s no reason that Tank can’t come up a few pounds to fight Devin Haney. Look, the talk around about Tank Davis is that he might fight Isaac Cruz in a rematch.”
This writer hates to drizzle on Haney’s parade, but he’s NOT getting a fight against Tank Davis. Not now, not ever, especially after that track meet-style performance last Saturday. T
ank, 5’5″, is too short to chase Haney around the ring all night, and he’s not giving him the pleasure of using that kind of fighting style against him because he’s going to ignore him.
“I reiterate what I said down there. Nobody cares. Nobody wants to see Tank Davis against Isaac Cruz part two except Isaac Cruz and Sean Gibbons. It’s as simple as that. I just think that if Tank Davis wants a big fight and a fight that can generate a huge amount of money, we’re looking at the guy he can go up against,” said Mannix.
