Devin Haney has gone seven straight fights without scoring a stoppage win.
The 24-year-old nicknamed “The Dream” last scored a knockout victory in 2019 when Haney stopped Zaur Abdullaev inside four rounds.
Haney has since gone the 12-round distance while beating Vasiliy Lomachenko, George Kambosos Jr. (twice), Joseph Diaz Jr., Jorge Linares, Yuriorkis Gamboa, and Alfredo Santiago.
The undisputed 135-pound champion Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) will look to buck the trend when he steps up to face 140-pound WBC champion Regis Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) on Dec. 9 at the Chase Center in San Francisco on DAZN PPV in North America.
The +245 betting underdog Prograis likes his chances to outlast Haney.
“I feel like I am going to stop him, straight up,” Prograis told BoxingScene.com in an interview. “Ever since they said his name, I’ve been working. I feel like there is nothing he can do to stop me. I’m going to hurt him.”
Prograis also questioned Haney’s durability, which has come to test at times in bouts against Lomachenko and Linares.
“His punch resistance is just not there. He’s a good boxer but I feel he’s got a lot of close calls. I feel like Loma definitely beat him,” said Prograis. “Loma just stepped it up on him and actually hit him with the cleaner shots. That’s what professional boxing is all about. The harder shots. I feel like Loma landed the bigger and harder punches. But now it’s me. I’m not Loma or anyone he’s fought. I’m going to hurt him.”
Haney scored a unanimous decision against Lomachenko via scores of 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112.
Lomachenko rallied toward the second half of the fight and even outlanded Haney in total punches (124 to 110) but did not do enough in the eyes of the judges to take the titles away from Haney.
Prograis also is coming off a lackluster performance.
The 34-year-old made the first defense of his super lightweight title in June when he beat Danielito Zorrilla via split decision in a homecoming fight.
Both fighters landed just 42 punches each, and the combined 84 total punches were the lowest ever in a 12-round title fight, according to CompuBox.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.