Trainer Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis says Devin Haney must take risks & come to “fight” WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis this Saturday night for him to have a chance of winning their clash on December 9th.
Bozy feels that Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) won’t be able to move around the ring for twelve rounds trying to elude Prograis because he’ll eventually wear down and be trapped by the champion.
A lot is riding on this fight for both fighters in terms of big-money options that will be available for the winner, so you can expect both to be fighting tooth & nail until the bitter end.
Potential options for Haney vs. Prograis winner:
– Ryan Garcia
– Teofimo Lopez
– Subriel Matias
– Gervonta Davis
– Shakur Stevenson
– Keith Thurman
Ennis believes that Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) intends on going for a knockout, believing that gives him his best chance of winning on Saturday night in their twelve round main event contest on DAZN at the Chase Center in San Franciso.
Regis undoubtedly saw what happened to Haney’s last opponent, Vasily Lomachenko, who made the mistake of trying to win a decision in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, and paid a heavy price by losing a controversial decision. Surprisingly, a fighter with Lomachenko’s experience thought he could win a decision in Haney’s home.
Prograis will be the visiting fighter, facing Haney in the city where he was born in San Francisco, and he’s not made the same mistake that Lomachenko did, counting on the judges giving it to him if it goes to the cards.
Regis has the luxury of learning from what happened to Loma, so he’s going to be looking to take Haney’s head off because he’s not going to be able to outbox the champion, even if the scoring is done logically without the strange scores that we witnessed with the Haney-Lomachenko fight.
Haney will need to “fight” Prograis
“I told Shakur that a long while back. ‘You got to take more risks.’ If you want to be great, you got to. I think he [Haney will [take risks against Prograis]. When you fight a guy like Regis, anyway, there will come a time that you’re going to have to fight,” said Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis to MillCity Boxing about Devin Haney likely to take risks against WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis this Saturday, December 9th in their contest on DAZN.
Unlike Shakur Stevenson, Haney takes risks in his fights with his offense and is willing to mix it up with his opponents, no matter how dangerous his opponents are.
You can expect Haney to be willing to get in the trenches with Prograis and beat him at his own game on Saturday night at times. That said, Haney isn’t crazy. He knows his limitations and won’t elect to fight Prograis in a phonebooth type of style all night because that would be insane.
Regis hits too hard for Haney to stand directly in front of him for three minutes of every round, but he’ll still pick his moments to exchange power shots, looking to entertain the fans and impress the judges.
“What I mean by fighting, like on the inside. You’re going to have to fight because he’s [Prograis] going to be putting that pressure on you. Devin is going to be boxing, putting his combinations together,” said Bozy. “It’s going to be good, but there’s going to come a time when he’s going to have to fight. That’s where he’s going to have to prove himself.
“If you can’t move no more as the rounds get farther and farther up, you start to get a little winded. That’s a great fight. That’s a good fight, but Devin is a good boxer,” said Bozy about the Prograis vs. Haney clash on Saturday.
That would be bad for Haney if he gasses out to the point where he’s forced to stand and fight Prograis by the midpoint of the contest because his ability to hang in there drops dramatically if he’s unable to move.
Prograis looked so poor in his last title defense against Danielito Zorrilla because the Puerto Rican fighter moved for twelve rounds without tiring and retained his dangerous power until the end.
“One thing about Devin. He’ll show you that he’ll fight you, too, though. He might get hurt, but he’ll fight you. He’s a good fighter. That’s a good fight. Regis can punch, and he’s supposed to be boxing this time. So, we’ll see,” said Bozy.
Prograis will try to knock out Devin
“I think Regis is going to go out and try and knock Devin out,” said Ennis. “That’s what he’s going to try to do, and Devin is going to be boxing. Devin has got a beautiful jab. He puts his punches together nicely. His defense is pretty good, too.”
Of course, Prograis will attempt to knock out Haney because that’s his game, and he wants to ensure he doesn’t wind up in the same position Lomachenko.
Can Prograis change his fight strategy?
We know that Haney will sometimes mix it up on Saturday night, but what would be interesting to see is Prograis choosing to box rather than brawling. Would Prograis attempt to box Haney if things aren’t working out for him in a one-on-one battle?
In Regis’ only career defeat against Josh Taylor in 2019, he failed to adapt until late in the fight by giving up on his idea of trying to fight him on the inside. If Prograis can switch game plans early against Haney, he’ll have a better shot at winning if things aren’t going well for him.
“People can talk about him all they want. Devin is a good fighter, a hell of a fighter,” said Bozy. “Look what he done. The same thing with Devin. They [WBC] gave him the title.
“That’s a good fight. I can’t wait to see that. I’ll be there. I’m going to talk to my boy, Bill [Haney], when I get out there. That’s my man, he’s alright. That’s my brother, him, and my son, man. They’re good people.”
Haney is an excellent fighter, but he’s only beaten one A-level guy during his career, and that was his controversial win over Lomachenko.
You can dismiss the 29 other guys that Haney has fought because they’ve been largely ham & eggers and not fighters that would be able to hang with the best at 135.
Now that Haney is at 140, taking on the powerful Prograis, there are question marks over his head about whether he will be up to beating him. If Haney loses, boxing fans will see him as just another hype job, who was matched carefully to compile his 30-0 record.
“We don’t talk down on no fighters, say, ‘He ain’t this, he ain’t that.’ We don’t talk that way. I heard that too,” said Bozy about Haney talking about going up to 147 if he successfully defeats Prograis on Saturday. “He [Haney] better leave Boots alone.
“I think he’s really jumping up. He’s got to get past Regis first, but I think he needs to leave Boots alone,” said Bozy, who may not have heard that the fighter that Haney is aiming for at 147 is 35-year-old Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman, who is a little past it.
Haney hasn’t mentioned wanting to tangle with IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, so it’s safe to say that fight won’t happen in the foreseeable future.
If Devin chooses to stay at 147 after his fight against the old timer Thurman, he could eventually face Boots Ennis if he becomes a big enough star for it to be worth the risk. Considering the current size of Boots, he will outgrow the welterweight division soon and will be forced to move to 154.
