Devin Haney’s lopsided win over Regis Prograis last weekend has been tarnished by a report of a massive rehydration increase from 140 to 165 lbs by Haney.
Gaining that much weight after the weigh-in gave Haney an unfair advantage over the considerably lighter Prograis, who one would argue never stood a chance of winning against a behemoth of that size.
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) reportedly weighed 165 lbs on the night of his title fight against WBC light welterweight champion Prograis (29-2, 24 KOs). Fans on social media are disgusted by Haney’s colossal rehydration amount, labeling him a “weight bully,” which is fitting.
It’s unlikely that the fight will be changed to a no-contest, but you can argue that it should or least have an asterisk next to it in the record books. It doesn’t make sense for a fighter to rehydrate 25 lbs to have a significant weight advantage over his opponent.
Did Haney’s weight give him an unfair advantage over Regis?
If Prograis hadn’t been aware that Haney would rehydrate 25 lbs, that would have put him at a disadvantage.
At least if Regis had known that Haney would rehydrate to 165 and walk into the ring four weight classes heavier than the 140-lb division, he could have adjusted his size and perhaps come into the fight in the mid-160s.
Why isn’t Haney fighting in the proper weight class for his size at super middleweight [168 lbs], middleweight [160], or junior middleweight [154]? Why is Haney draining down to fight at 140 if he’s rehydrating to 165?
The day before, Haney had weighed in at 140 lbs last Friday, meaning he rehydrated 25 lbs overnight to come into the fight with Regis as a super middleweight. The upper limit for super middleweight is 168 lbs, and Haney was a mere three lbs away from the ceiling.
Prograis was none the wiser about Haney’s weight, and even if he knew, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything.
The rules allow fighters to rehydrate as much as they please as long as they make the weight limit, but that rule needs to be changed.
There has to be some kind of control to prevent fighters from rehydrating 15 to 25 lbs, as that’s not fair. Fighters have ways of rehydrating rapidly using a system.
Prograis rehydrated to 156.8 lbs on the night of the fight, which is a lot, too, but obviously considerably less than the 165 lbs that Haney weighed in at.
After the fight, Haney talked of wanting to move up to welterweight, which in light of the news of him ballooning up to 165, it’s understandable why he’d want to move up.
But even going up to 147 is too light, given how big Haney is. With his size, he should be campaigning at 154 at the very least, as he’d be in the ballpark in terms of the weight and being a fair fight.
