In front of a crowd of over 16,000 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Devin Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) defeated Regis Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) by unanimous decision to win the WBC title. Won the super lightweight title.
All three judges scored the fight the same, 120-107, with Regis Prograis struggling to close the distance and proving extremely difficult to land punches. Compubox corroborates the difficulty of his Prograis, with his connect rate being very low at 9.9%, and he only landed 36 punches in the entire fight, with both the second and ninth rounds punching him. It was revealed that only two of his shots hit.
Boxing great Zab Judah voiced his opinion at ringside, saying Haney was dominant, impressive and one of the best fighters at 140 pounds right now.
Devin Haney seems much stronger at this weight, stating that he struggled to make weight at 135 pounds in his last fight, but seems ready to fight anyone at 140 pounds.
Some of the top names in the super lightweight division, including Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia and Teofimo Lopez, were featured in the post-fight press conference. Who he plays against and where things stand, Team Haney will sit down and strategize for the future. Promoter Eddie Hearn said the next possible location for the fight could be Saudi Arabia or even San Francisco again.
At the end of the match, Prograis said Haney was much better than he believed, with great footwork and fast. Regis trained for four months for this fight, but lost to a superior boxer with elusive speed and excellent distance control.
Prograis’ performance somewhat mimicked his fight against Danielito Zorrilla (17-2, 13 KOs), where he struggled all night to close the distance. Prograis said he wants to become a three-time champion before moving on to MMA.
Devin Haney’s performance was record-breaking, holding off Prograis with fewer punches than Edwin de los Santos vs. Shakur Stevenson (40). Who performed better?
Shakur Stevenson is said to have defeated Edwin single-handedly. Haney had a great night in front of his hometown crowd. He believes he should win Player of the Year, just like his father, Bill Haney, won Trainer of the Year.
Haney defeated both Vasily Lomachenko and Regis Prograis in the same year, which is commendable. It remains to be seen whether he will win the Player of the Year award. What is certain is that he is now proving himself among the elite of the super lightweight division. He can sell tickets, draw crowds, and challenge anyone at 140 pounds.
