LAS VEGAS – Devin Haney hopes Regis Prograis exudes energy when they see each other in person again comparable to what Haney has sensed from his upcoming opponent on X.
Prograis promised Haney “You getting beat the f— up” and “I’m about to f— up so many people’s plans” on the social media platform during the buildup toward their fight. Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) pointed out during an open workout recently at the Top Rank Gym that Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) hasn’t been as boisterous when they’ve come face to face during the promotion of their 12-round fight for Prograis’ WBC super lightweight title Saturday night at Chase Center in San Francisco.
“The ‘Face Off’ was good,” Haney said in reference to a promotional preview DAZN produced. “It was a lot better than what he did at the [first] press conference [in mid-October]. The press conference, he was silent. He was silent. He didn’t say sh!t. But at the ‘Face Off’ he was talking a little bit more, which is good. You know, what can I say? I see him talk. He talk crazy on Twitter. He talk a lot on Twitter these days.
“But I don’t know. When he see me, he don’t say nothing. And then I see he say he knocking out, or no, he broke his sparring partner’s jaw or something like that. Man, knock it off. Listen, when you, what we do in the gym we don’t even talk about. We don’t even talk about what we do in the gym because we saving it for the fight, you know, cause that’s where it count. So, he just talking. That’s all he wanna do is talk.”
Haney has relinquished his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO lightweight titles, which indicates just how confident he is that he’ll top Prograis in the former undisputed 135-pound champion’s debut as a full-fledged junior welterweight. Handicappers have installed Haney as a 4-1 favorite to beat Prograis, a two-time 140-pound champion who has fought at or near his division’s limit throughout his 11-year professional career.
In addition to his abundance of experience in Haney’s new weight class, Prograis is considered a harder puncher than his 25-year-old opponent. The powerful southpaw has knocked out 80 percent of his opponents, whereas Haney has a notably lower knockout ratio (50 percent).
The bout between Prograis, a New Orleans native who resides in Katy, Texas, and Haney, an Oakland native who relocated to Henderson, Nevada, will headline a four-fight DAZN Pay-Per-View show scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET and 5 p.m. PT ($74.99).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.