WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis and Devin Haney traded trash talk on Twitter on Tuesday. Haney holds the undisputed lightweight title, but perhaps not for much longer.
What complicates things for Haney is the WBC has given him a Friday deadline to determine if he’ll stay at 135 to fight Shakur Stevenson or move up to 140 to fight Prograis.
Shakur’s management has reportedly contacted the WBO to make him the mandatory for that belt at 135 in addition to the WBC. By becoming mandatory for two of Haney’s titles, it limits his options.
If Haney had any ideas about vacating his WBC belt to avoid Shakur, he could wind up end needing to vacate his WBO belt as well. That would make Haney look like he’s afraid of Stevenson, which is what a lot of people already think.
Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) gave Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) his thoughts on the tough predicament that he’s in, needing to decide on staying at 135 and likely losing to his WBC mandatory Shakur Stevenson or moving up to 140 getting his teeth knocked out of his mouth by Regis.
If Haney, 24, vacates to swerve Shakur, then he’ll likely face Prograis. That’s the fight that supposedly he and Prograis’ promoter Eddie Hearn wants.
The one guy at 140 that could potentially get in the way of a Prograis-Haney fight is WBO champion Teofimo Lopez. If he and his promoters at Top Rank want the Haney fight, it’s there for them.
Aside from a possible fight with Haney, Prograis doesn’t have a good option for his next match. If he doesn’t fight Haney, Progais will need to defend against WBC mandatory Sandor Martin. That’s a fight that Hearn would rather not make because it wouldn’t make Prograis a lot of money, and he could lose.
After I hit you with them 8oz gloves we gonna see who nuts in who mouth https://t.co/elMyeGevxP
— Rougarou (@RPrograis) July 19, 2023
Either Devin can stay there and get outboxed by Shakur or come up to fight me and get his teeth knocked out. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
— Rougarou (@RPrograis) July 18, 2023
Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis could come to Haney’s rescue by agreeing to fight him next, but that’s probably not going to happen. Haney would be a tough fight for Tank, and he hasn’t been fighting good opposition since his close call in 2021.
It’s going to come down to whether Haney has enough self confidence to stay at 135 to fight Shakur, or move up to 140 to fight Prograis.
If Haney can withstand Prograis’s big punches, he has an excellent chance of outboxing him to become a two-division world champion. Vasily Lomachenko hurt Haney in his last fight, and he’s going to have to box & move all night to avoid Prograis chopping him down.