Regis Prograis believes the extra weight will make Devin Haney stronger fight their fight, coming up to 140 to be less drained and more willing to trade than he has in the past with his opposition.
WBC light welterweight champion Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) claims he’ll be ready for Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) if he’s hitting with more power and if he fights aggressively in their 12 round headliner on DAZN PPV at the Chase Center in San Franciso, California.
Five pounds probably won’t make much of a difference in increasing Haney’s power because that’s not enough weight for it to create anything dramatic.
Keys to victory for Prograis:
- Nonstop pressure
- Cut off ring
- Use jab
- Focus on power
- Be aggressive
- Neutralize Haney’s jab
What might make a difference is if Haney were fighting at 147 or 154, but it would be a tradeoff with him losing hand speed in the process.
It wouldn’t be a good idea for Haney to slow down against a fighter like Prograis because he’s going to be teeing off, looking to finish what Jorge Linares started in their fight in 2021.
Prograis predicts a stronger Haney
“I’m expecting Devin to be stronger than people think. For me, I’d rather be surprised that he’s not as strong as I think he is than be surprised that he is as strong as I think he is,” said Regis Prograis to Fight Hub TV about Devin Haney being stronger for their fight on Saturday night.
Rather than worrying about Haney’s power, Prograis should be focusing on doing a better job of cutting off the ring and using his nonexistent jab. In Regis’ last fight against Danielito Zorrilla, he couldn’t cut off the ring and did an abysmal job dealing with the Puerto Rican fighter’s long game.
“I’m expecting a stronger Devin. He’s coming up to 140. So, I’m expecting him to be stronger,” said Prograis. “So, if I’m surprised that he’s not strong and doesn’t punch hard, then whatever, it might be that kind of night.
“I’m expecting him to be a little stronger. We’ll see,” said Regis about Haney potentially being stronger. “I won’t be shocked at all. He might do that,” said Prograis on the possibility of Devin coming straight at him, looking to punch it out.
Keys to victory for Haney
- Jab
- Move
- Keep Prograis on outside
- Avoid brawling
- Clinch frequently
- Ignore booing from crowd
“Like in this camp, we prepared for everything. We prepared for anything. Anything he does, I’m prepared for. I don’t think he’s going to do the same conventional stuff that he did to jab and try and run around the ring,” said Regis about Haney not running for this fight like he’d done in the past.
“I think he will try and come to me. He’ll switch it up, and it’ll be a chess match. We’ll both have to do a lot of adjustments in the fight because he’s still a small fighter, but we’ll see.
“A lot of big fights. I’m just glad I stayed at 140. People were telling me that I’m crazy, ‘Go to 147. I’m like, ‘Hell, no. This is going to be the money division,’ and look what’s happening now. This is the last biggest fight of the year,” said Prograis.
Well, thus far, Prograis hasn’t been involved in too many big fights at 140. Counting Saturday’s match with Haney, Prograis has been involved in just two high-profile fights in his eleven-year professional career. The other one was against Josh Taylor in 2019, and Prograis lost that one by a twelve round majority decision.
Moving forward, for Prograis to get the big fights he wants, he must beat Haney and hope that he chooses to try to avenge his loss.
If Prograis looks too good, he’ll never get the likes of Teofimo Lopez and Ryan Garcia to fight him. Those two likely will wait until Prograis is older and showing signs of having lost his skills before they choose to fight him.
Regis talks other fights
“I always wish him the best. I want him to be his best version of himself,” said Prograis when asked about his thoughts on Jermall Charlo resuming his career after a long break last month on November 25th against Jose Benavidez Jr.
“He took a two-year layoff. He’s back and he did what he’s supposed to do. He beat Benavidez [Jr], and he did good. I’m happy for him, and on to the next and see what he does next, him and Caleb Plant. I think that would be a big money fight and stuff. Hopefully, he do well,” said Prograis about Jermall Charlo.
Jermall vs. Caleb Plant would be an excellent fight, and hopefully, the two can meet up next in a grudge match. Plant slapped Jermall last summer during an alternation, and then took off running.
The only those two don’t fight next is if Jermall has a chance to fight with Canelo Alvarez next May, which is a possibility.
“Definitely, for sure. I think him [Jermall] and Plant [would be a good fight]. Plant slapped him, and he definitely got to get that back. He definitely has got to get that back,” said Prograis.
“You definitely got to get that back, but what he said, ‘I forgot about that, but let’s make these millions.’ So, that’s what he want to do. If I was him, I would do that Plant fight next.”
Jermall & Plant will make good money if they fight, and their match would be bigger than David Benavidez’s recent Showtime PPV bout with washed Demetrius Andrade on November 25th.
That event is rumored to have brought in a poor 60K PPV buys on Showtime, which shows that fans weren’t excited about this fight for obvious reasons. In hindsight, Benavidez should have accepted the call out from WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr. instead of opting for the old timer Andrade, but perhaps fear got the best of ‘The Mexican Monster.’
“David [Benavidez] looked good. He looked like a man vs. a boy right now. That’s just me being honest. He’s just too big and too strong for everybody. He’s whipping people [Demetrius Andrade],” said Prograis.
“I was still leaning more towards David, but I thought it was a really even fight. You can’t tell. You just never know. You can’t tell, and he did his thing. He walked him down. Like I said, it’s man vs. boys right now.
“No, no, no, Canelo is a different monster,” said Prograis when asked if Benavidez would do to Canelo what he did to Andrade. “Right now, I would lean more towards Canelo just because of experience. I think David is a very skilled fighter, but I don’t think he’s going to be able to do the same thing to Canelo right now.”
If Benavidez fights Canelo, he’ll likely need to agree to a rehydration clause because Alvarez won’t want to fight a guy that rehydrates to 190+ lbs and walks into the ring a cruiserweight.
“If David fights somebody else next and gets a little more experience, it’ll be like that. I just think that I can’t put David ahead of Canelo because of Canelo’s experience. He fought big strong people,” said Prograis.
“He fought people like Bivol. He fought GGG, and obviously, it’s a different style, but still, he did all that stuff. I can’t put anybody above Canelo right now. It’ll be a big fight [Canelo-Benavidez]. That would be something that I would definitely watch.”
Canelo would have an excellent chance of beating Benavidez and countering him to pieces, catching him in between one of his five-punch combos.
“I don’t think Andrade hits as hard as Canelo. So, it’s always a difference when you’re getting touched. He [Benavidez] didn’t respect the power, and that’s why he started doing what he was doing in walking him down,” said Prograis.
