In front of a crowd of 16,000 plus at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Devin Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) captured the WBC super lightweight championship by decisively beating Regis Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) via unanimous decision.
All three judges scored the fight the same 120-107, seeing a Regis Prograis struggling to close the distance and demonstrating extreme difficulty to land punches. Compubox confirms Prograis’s difficulties, revealing an extremely low connect percentage of 9.9 percent, consisting of only 36 punches landed for the entire match, and a round high of two punches landed in both the 2nd and 9th rounds.
Boxing great Zab Judah was ringside and expressed his opinion, stating that Haney was dominant and impressive and is now one of the best at 140 pounds.
Devin Haney seems much stronger at this weight, stating he struggled to make weight at 135 pounds in his last fights, but at 140 appears ready to compete against anyone.
The top names at super lightweight came out at the post-fright press conference – – Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia, and Teofimo Lopez. Who he faces and where is something team Haney will sit down and strategize for the future. Promoter Eddie Hearn stated potential locations for the next match could be Saudi Arabia or possibly San Francisco again.
At the end of the match, Prograis stated that Haney was much better than what he believed, had great footwork, and was fast. Regis trained for four months for the bout but was outperformed by a superior boxer with elusive speed and great control of distance.
Prograis’s performance somewhat emulated his fight against Danielito Zorrilla (17-2, 13 KOs), where he struggled the entire night to close the distance. Prograis stated he wants to become a three-time champion before transitioning into MMA.
Devin Haney’s performance was record-breaking, holding Prograis to fewer punches than what Edwin De Los Santos had against Shakur Stevenson, 40. Who performed better?
Shakur Stevenson allegedly defeated Edwin with one hand. Haney had a spectacular night in front of his home crowd. He believes he should be awarded the Best Fighter of the Year award along with his father, Bill Haney being awarded Trainer of the Year.
Haney defeated both Vasiliy Lomachenko and Regis Prograis in the same year, which is commendable. If he is awarded Best Fighter of the Year, it remains to be seen. What is certain is he now places himself among the elite at super lightweight, proving himself. He’s able to sell tickets, bring in a crowd, and challenge anyone at 140 pounds.
