Regis Prograis and Devin Haney meet this Saturday night, December 9th, in their long-awaited contest on DAZN at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
The oddsmakers are picking the younger fighter, Haney, to defeat the 34-year-old Prograis, who looked his age in his last fight, struggling to defeat his second-tier tune-up opponent, Danielito Zorrilla.
Despite being the underdog in Saturday’s fight, Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) intends to retain his WBC light welterweight title and inflict a lot of punishment on the unbeaten Haney (30-0, 15 KO), who is looking to brighten his horizons by becoming a two-division world champion.
This fight will show whether Haney has a future outside of the 135-lb division because the colossal weight advantage he’s been accustomed to having in his bouts won’t be as significant.
Devin will still be bigger than Prograis, but it won’t be the monstrous size advantage we’ve seen from him in the last several years while campaigning at lightweight.
If Haney can’t exist with the top dogs at 140 or 147, his career will quickly fade away. He’ll still be rich, however, so it won’t be all bad if Saturday’s fight is the beginning of the end for Haney.
Unfortunately for Haney, he won’t be able to return to the 135-lb to pick up where he left off because he’s outgrown the division at 24, meaning he’ll have to make the best of it.
If Haney wins on Saturday, he has some appealing options against Ryan Garcia or moving up to welterweight to take on the still popular ex-WBA & WBC 147-lb champion Keith Thurman.
Prograis insists it won’t end well for Haney
“He made a mistake. He thinks the s*** is sweet on his side, bro. It’s not going to be sweet. He’s never felt this before.” said Regis Prograis to his YouTube channel, talking about Devin Haney and their fight this Saturday, December 9th, on DAZN.
For Prograis to fulfill his tough talk of knocking out Haney, he’s going to need to really put it on him because he’s a fighter who has proven repeatedly that he’s capable of recovering when hurt.
Prograis will need to be ready to fight through a lot of clinches for him to have a shot at knocking out Haney, given his habit of holding frequently when he’s been buzzed by an opponent.
In Haney’s fight with Jorge Linares, he held repeatedly in the championship rounds, and escaped that fight without getting knocked out after he was hurt in the eighth.
Regis’ coach predicts Haney will wind up the canvas
Evins Tobler: “We’re going to let the world know about ‘Rougarou’ and this track star coming up from 135,” said Prograis’ strength & conditioning coach Tobler, talking about Haney coming up in weight from lightweight.
“We ain’t coming here to play no games. We’re not undermining anybody. We came here to do a job and retain the world title. Your son don’t got no power,” said Robler to Bill Haney. “He damn sure ain’t got no chin.”
Prograis will need to cut off the ring better on Saturday against Haney than in his fight with Zorrilla because he will be dealing with a better mover. If Regis can’t cut off the ring, it could be very boring for the fans, similar to Shakur Stevenson’s bout against Edwin De Los Santos.
“Your son is going to be on his back, looking at the ceiling like I said the other day. Boxing fans don’t want to see Devin Haney run. They want to see him fight,” said Tobler. “Eddie Hearn puts in the best fights in the world.
“Ask Mr. Haney if Devin is going to run or fight like a man. This is the worst mistake you made. This is going to be the worst a** kicking your son got.”
