By: Sean Crose
According to Mike Coppinger of ESPN, Devin Haney plans on giving up his lightweight titles after he faces Regis Prograis on December 9th for Prograis’ WBC junior welterweight title. This is big news, not only because of the fact that undisputed lightweight champion Haney is leaving his four world title belts behind, but also because Haney has done nothing if not proven himself to be a fighter whose career movements are worth following. Jorge Linares, George Kambosos (2x), Vasyl Lomachenko, Haney has risen to the occasion on numerous occasions against first rate competition. Also, his upcoming fight against Prograis shows that Haney is continuing to face the bigger available names out there.
“I did everything at 135 that I could,” ESPN quotes Haney as saying. Haney then goes on to indicate that another name fighter (or that fighter’s team) wasn’t interested in facing him at lightweight. “The biggest fight for me was making that Gervonta Davis fight,” he said, “and his side showed no interest in making the fight. I’ve outgrown the division, so now I make my quest to 140 to become a two-division champion.” As rewarding as becoming an undisputed titlist was, Haney made it clear he is now looking to move his career forward.
“I made history in becoming undisputed, and that was a milestone for me,” Haney stated, “but now I’m at the point in my career where I want to make the biggest and the best fights happening in the world. I’m a pay-per-view fighter.” Some might argue – correctly – that there are too many pay per view fighters in the boxing industry at the moment. Still, virtually no one could correctly argue that Haney isn’t one of the most highly skilled practitioners of the professional boxing scene. Although he’s not a power puncher, Haney has the ability to fight at a fast pace, as was evidenced by his high octane battle with Lomachenko.
With that in mind, Haney will have to put his impressive skills to good use against Prograis in December if he wishes to emerge victorious from their battle in San Francisco. Prograis, after all, is a world titlist for a reason. Not only can he hit, Prograis possess a confidence which can be alarming to his competition. Not that Haney is apt to be drained of confidence himself when he enters the ring on December 9th. He’s fought at this level before and has always emerged victorious. As Prograis might well point out, however, there’s often a first time for everything.