LAS VEGAS – Devin Haney hopes Regis Prograis will exude an energy comparable to what Haney saw in his future opponent at X when they see each other again in person. “You beat the f—–up” and “I make so many people plans,” Prograis promised Haney on the social media platform before their fight.
Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) noted during a recent open workout at the Top Rank gym that Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) hasn’t been as hot since they went head-to-head in the promotion. A 12-round fight for Prograis’ WBC super-featherweight title on Saturday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco. “‘Face Off’ was good,” Haney said, referring to a DAZN preview. “It was much better than what he did at the [first] press conference [in mid-October]. He was silent at the press conference. He was silent.
He didn’t say sh!t. But in “Face Off” he talked a little more, which is good. You know what I can say? I can see him talking. He’s going crazy on Twitter. He talks a lot on Twitter these days. “But I don’t know. When he sees me, he doesn’t say anything. And then I see him say he hit, or no, he broke his sparring partner’s jaw or something. Man, stop it. Look, if you, we don’t even talk about what we do in the gym. We don’t even talk about what we do in the gym because we save it for the fight because it’s important.
So he just talks. He just wants to talk. Haney relinquished his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO lightweight titles, showing just how confident he is in the full junior middleweight debut of former undisputed 135-pound champion de Prograis. Handicappers have Haney a 4-1 favorite to beat Prograis, a two-time 140-pound champion who has fought at or near the limit of his division during his 11-year professional career.
In addition to Haney’s wealth of experience in the new weight class, Prograis’ 25-year-old opponent is considered a tougher puncher. The powerful southpaw has knocked out 80 percent of his opponents, while Haney has a significantly lower knockout ratio (50 percent). The matchup between Prograis, a New Orleans native who lives in Katy, Texas, and Haney, an Oakland native who moved to Henderson, Nevada, is a DAZN Pay-Per-View show starting at 8:00 PM ET and 5:00 PM. PT. ($74.99