Devin Haney weighed in at 140 lbs, and WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis at 139 lbs during a drama-filled weigh-in on Friday for their headliner on Saturday, December 9th, at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Devin looked even drained slightly, making weight at 140. You can only imagine what torture he was going through to drain down to 135 all these years.
Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) snapped after the weigh-in, launching into an f-bomb-filled outburst, which pleased promoter Eddie Hearn, putting a big smile on his face.
Weights:
- Devin Haney 140 vs. Regis Prograis 139
- Montana Love 140 vs. Liam Paro 140
- Andy Cruz 134.4 vs. Jovanni Straffon 134
- Ebanie Bridges 117.8 vs. Miyo Yoshida 117.6
- Amari Jones 159.2 vs. Quilisto Madera 160
Regis has been treated almost like an underling instead of the champion during the promotional of the fight, and it’s clearly bothered him.
Today’s expletive-filled rant by Prograis was him venting his frustration at being overlooked and counted out by the fans, media, and fighters. If Prograis wins on Saturday night, you can bet that he’s going to let the fans know about it.
The Haney-Prograis price is $75.99 on DAZN PPV for non-subscribers and $59.99 for subscribers.
Prograis’ weigh-in rant pleases promoter
“That was the icing on the cake after a great build-up,” said Eddie Hearn to Fighthype, reacting to Regis Prograis shouting, “F*** the Haney’s” at the end of today’s weigh-in.
“Both guys are desperate to win. Both teams believe they can’t lose, and I can’t wait to see the fight tomorrow night. I think it’s a 50-50 fight, I really do. When we first came here [the Chase Center], I thought, ‘The bottom part [of the arena] was 10,000. If we can get close to filling it out would be amazing.'”
If Hearn wasn’t promoting both guys, he’s likely to give his true thoughts on who he sees winning this fight on Saturday. The way that he’s been praising Haney 24/7, speaking about him in glowing terms, and discussing options for his next fight, it’s pretty clear that he’s pulling for him to win.
Business-wise, it works better for Hearn if Devin wins because that opens up a world of opportunities for lucrative fights against these fighters:
- Ryan Garcia
- Teofimo Lopez
- Gervonta Davis
- Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero
- Shakur Stevenson
- Keith Thurman
“But to sell the whole thing out, 16,000, you’ll see the atmosphere here tomorrow night,” said Hearn. “It’ll be absolutely electric. It’s going to be tough for those guys to deal with as well. I know both guys [Haney & Prograis] have boxed on big stages, but nothing like this before.
“They’re two very sharp, reactive guys, and I think fight ends in knockout inside eight rounds. We’re about to announce it now. 16,000,” said Hearn about there being an announcement coming shortly on the Chase Center selling out.”
Hopefully, the undercard fights provide some entertainment for the fans on Saturday because the card seems to be slanted to just the top two fights in terms of interesting match-ups. The undercard has got a lot of filler fights.
Knockout prediction
“Because I think Regis will be taking chances in the fight,” said Hearn when asked why he believes Haney can score a knockout in this fight. “I think Devin will be stronger at 140 and punching harder. I do think the way that he fights and the way that Regis is aggressive.
“If Regis is aggressive, and I think he has to be in the fight, I think Devin can hurt Regis Prograis, but I know Regis can hurt Devin Haney. You’ve seen him hurt at 135, but sometimes, you don’t know if that extra weight is going to give him a little more comfort in his chin and his robustness,” said Hearn.
Provided that Regis’ chin hasn’t lost something from his previous match against Danielito Zorrilla last June, he should have no problems taking the shots from Haney on Saturday.
Where Prograis could have problems is trying to get to Haney, who is expected to do a lot of moving, jabbing & holding. Haney will probably fight a lot like he did in his two matches with George Kambosos Jr., and not take chances.
“I think it will, but he’s never been hit before by a puncher like Regis Prograis,” said Hearn. “He’s got to hit him, but we’ve seen in his previous fights that Devin does get hit. I just think it’s the occasion. You saw him up there. You’ve never seen Regis like that before,” said Hearn, talking about Prograis going postal, swearing, and acting like he’d snapped.
“I’ve never seen Devin like that, and I think tomorrow night when they make their ring walks, I just think it’s going to be one of those sharp, reactive fights where someone is going to be sharp enough to hurt someone, and it could be early.”
Prograis is fed up with being overlooked by people in this fight, and he’s ready to tear into Haney to show people how wrong they were about him. If Prograis wins, he’s going to be crowing afterward something fierce, gloating like crazy, he and his strength coach Evins Tobler.
“I think so. I can only give you a build-up and hope the fight delivers. I don’t see how it doesn’t deliver. I think that is exactly where you want to be. You want to be fired up,” said Hearn about Prograis.
Haney dismisses 50-50 assessment
“He didn’t show no skills. He showed power,” said Devin Haney to the media on the skills that Regis Prograis showed in his win over Jose Zepeda.
“Eddie [Hearn] is doing what it takes to sell the fight. We know this ain’t know 50-50 fight. We all know that I’m levels above this guy. Like I said, the world is going to see. It’s going to be a round, but I don’t know what round,” said Haney when asked what round he’d end the fight against Prograis.
Haney probably believes it will be a close fight, but he doesn’t want to give Prograis any confidence in this fight by showing his self-doubt. I don’t think it matters. Prograis is going to fight his heart out no matter what, and he’s not going to be holding back.
“I’m going in there to fight and win. That’s my main focus. I don’t care about none of this outside of the ring,” said Haney. “None of this, ‘Who Eddie likes or who Eddie doesn’t like. Listen, I’m a true professional. I perform no matter what. It don’t matter about none of that.
“People are going to come out. It’s a great fight for boxing. I want to get past this fight and see what’s next. I’ll go see,” said Haney about how going up in weight affects his power, said Haney.
If Haney loses this fight, it’s going to be bad for his career, particularly if it’s by knockout. He’ll have a lot of explaining to do afterward, and we can only imagine the speech he’ll be making, trying to make sense of what happened to him.
All Weights:
Regis Prograis 139 vs. Devin Haney 140
Liam Paro 140 vs. Montana Love 140
Andy Cruz 134.4 vs. Jovanni Straffon 134
Ebanie Bridges 117.8 vs. Miyo Yoshida 117.6
Amari Jones 159.2 vs. Quilisto Madera 160
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yayISVmFOGo