Regis Prograis is poised to defeat ‘The Golden Child’ Devin Haney this Saturday night when the two meet in a light welterweight showdown in their legacy-defining contest on December 9th.
Haney (30-0, 15 KOs), the challenger, will go up against WBC light welterweight champion Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) live on DAZN at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
Devin’s dad, Bill Haney, predicts that Prograis is in for a “vicious, hellacious a** whipping” that he won’t soon forget on Saturday night.
For Prograis, he can’t wait to put the oddsmaker & fan favorite ‘Golden Child’ Haney in his place to show the world how wrong they were about him.
The success that Haney had at lightweight, winning all four titles to become the undisputed 135-lb champion, is meaningless and immaterial to where he’s at now, fighting one of the biggest punchers in the 140-lb division.
If Haney can’t cut it in this division against Prograis, then it doesn’t matter what he did in the past. This is now. The ambitious Haney feels that this is just a continuation of what he’s done in the past at 135, and he’s ready to snatch Prograis’ WBC 140-lb belt on Saturday.
Haney feels unstoppable for Prograis clash
“Right now, I’m at the point where I’m competing against myself. It’s me in greatness. I’m trying to be the best me that I can possibly be and outdo myself,” said Devin Haney to Matchroom Boxing ahead of Saturday’s showdown against WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis.
“I’m at the point where I feel unstoppable. My body is mature. My body feels so much better at this weight, and I can’t wait to show the world how much better I am at 140. That’s the best thing, me being able to eat more, rest more in this camp,” said Haney.
It’s impossible to know how Haney will do on Saturday, going up against Prograis, as this guy is a different type of killer than the guys that Devin has beaten in the past at 135.
We’ve seen Haney dominate the likes of George Kambosos Jr, but that’s obviously a fighter that Prograis would smash with ease if he were to face the former unified lightweight champion.
Haney’s best career wins:
– Vasily Lomachenko – *controversial
– George Kambosos Jr x 2
– Jorge Linares
– Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz
– Alfredo Santiago
– Yuriorkis Gamboa
– Zaur Abdullaev
Given the controversy involved with Devin’s last victory over 35-year-old Lomachenko earlier this year in May, that’s one that clearly needs an asterisk next to it because it was too close to call it a true win.
Yeah, it counts in the record books as a victory, but the fans overwhelmingly viewed it as a gift decision given to Haney due to his youth, popularity, and having more years ahead of him than Lomachenko.
“In my last camp, I was training more to make weight. It’s no excuses or anything like that, but it’s been a long time coming for me to go to 140,” said Haney.
“Regis, you in trouble. You and that bald-headed big dummy,” said Bill Haney, referring to Prograis’ strength & conditioning coach, Evins Tobler.
Bill’s comments about Tobler are a response to his prediction of Haney getting knocked out by the champion Prograis and ending up on his back, looking at the lights.
Tobler dominated the kickoff press conference, letting Haney & Bill know that they would be in for a bad night on December 9th. This week, it should be interesting to hear what Tobler has to say about the Haney-Prograis fight.
“I’m a different kind of fighter. I’ve been saying this for a long time. I want to make the biggest fights happen. I’m a throwback fighter, a legacy-type fighter. I’m also a prizefighter,” said Haney.
“I was at a point where I didn’t care about the money where I was only fighting for legacy. I became undisputed, I got the belts. I did that and defended them, not once but twice. Now, I’m in the prizefighting,” said Devin.
It’s understandable why Haney it no longer concerned about money, as he’s already amassed a huge fortune at age 25, so he can focus on fighting for legacy without worrying about the financial side of things.
To create a lasting legacy, Haney will need to keep moving towards bigger fights if he’s victorious on Saturday night against Prograis. Boxing fans would like to see Haney stay at 140 long enough to face champions Subriel Matias & Teofimo Lopez.
There’s also interest in seeing Haney defend against Ryan Garcia, who is obviously several pegs below Matias & Teofimo in the talent department, yet is massively popular due to his tremendous social media following.
“It’s going to be one of the vicious, hellacious a** whippings that’s going to be put on known to man by still the undisputed champion. Regis Prograis, you in trouble on December the 9th,” said Bill Haney.
Prograis ready to defeat ‘The Golden Child’ Devin
“This is a step to my legacy fight because Devin is kind of looked at is as the ‘Golden child,‘” said Prograis. “He turned pro when he was 17. I started boxing when I was 17.
“It’s a big difference right there, but I don’t have to be like them. I’m going to be me, and I have to always remember that. People say I got stuff going against me, but I feel I got things going for me. I got so much will. I got so much fight in me. I think that’s what separates me from everybody else,” said Prograis.
In contrast to Haney, Regis is more of a blue-collar type of fighter, a guy who wasn’t given a massive push coming up and wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth or sent to prestigious, high-priced private schools in the Bay Area in California.
“I used to be really poor, and I’d go somewhere, and people would be looking down on you,” said Prograis. “You can’t afford s**t. At the time, I couldn’t, I really couldn’t, but people looking down on you. Now, I can, but I still like to look like I can’t afford s***, but I’m going to go get that.”
It’s interesting that Prograis chooses to dress down, opting not to show his wealth by blending in with the common folk and not setting himself apart. Instead of Prograis driving around with Ferraris and Lamborghinis, his car is a simple Range Rover, which fits in perfectly with the type of fighter he is.
“Who else is living like this? You got to work for this. You can’t just have this. I bust my a**. I work so hard for the things I got,” said Prograis.
