Undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney has until this Friday, July 21st, to inform the WBC of his intentions on whether he’ll fight his 135-lb mandatory Shakur Stevenson or move up to 140 to challenge WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis for his belt.
In an interview today, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said that Haney must let them know if he’ll stay at 135 to fight Shakur or move up to 140 to challenge Prograis.
Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) may have already made it known which direction he’ll go because he posted on social media in reply to Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) that they’ll be fighting in October. That’s a more winnable fight for Haney than staying at 135 and defending against the former two-division world champion Stevenson.
Prograis, 34, looked old & past it in squeaking by Danielito Zorrilla by a twelve round split decision last June in his debut with Matchroom Boxing. Unless Prograis shows vast improvements, he’ll lose to Haney in a one-sided manner.
Shakur recently earned the WBC mandatory spot by stopping Shuichiro Yoshino in the sixth round last April in a 135-lb title eliminator to become mandatory to Haney.
The World Boxing Council has been slow in ordering Haney to face Shakur, and it wasn’t until he wrote to the WBC last week to ask them to get the ball rolling that they finally acted.
Haney has been in a holding pattern, likely waiting to see if Gervonta Davis would show interest in fighting him after his release from jail. Since he hasn’t done that, Devin has now decided to move up to 140 to challenge Prograis for his WBC title, which makes sense.
“Friday, July 21st is the deadline for Haney to decide if he’s fighting Prograis or if he’s going to stay in the lightweight division,” said WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman to Broadway Joel about the deadline of this Friday for undisputed 135-lb champion Devin Haney to decide if he’ll move up to 140 or stay at lightweight.
“No [voluntary]. Shakur Stevenson is the mandatory in the lightweight division.”
Shakur will now face the highest-ranked willing & able contender in the WBC’s top ten ranking for the soon-to-be vacated WBC belt. That’ll likely be #1 Vasily Lomachenko, who the WBC has kept at #1 despite his recent loss to Haney last May.
If Lomachenko turns down the fight, it would fall on one of these contenders:
3. Isaac Cruz
4. William Zepeda
5. Frank Martin
6. Edwin De Los Santos
7. Jamaine Ortiz
8. Artem Harutyunyan
9. Shuichiro Yoshino
10. Raymond Muratalla
Strap me up 😤 3 division world champ otw https://t.co/YAQpp8V6Bq
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) July 17, 2023
October https://t.co/A81mkNJGcp
— Devin Haney (@Realdevinhaney) July 17, 2023