December’s WBC world super lightweight title clash between Regis Prograis and Devin Haney is one of the standout fights of the boxing calendar towards the back end of the year, with observers intrigued as to how the former undisputed lightweight king will fare up in weight.
Despite moving up 5lbs, ‘The Dream’ is the favourite over defending champion Prograis – which former lightweight world champion Mikey Garcia believes could be shortsighted.
In a recent interview with ESNews, Garcia explained that though Haney’s superior boxing skills could see him over the line, he believes Prograis power means he “has a very good chance.”
“I think it [Haney vs Prograis] is a much better fight than people think. A lot of people are counting out Regis – I think he has a very good chance!”
“He’s strong, dangerous and Haney hasn’t shown the best chin at times. He doesn’t have the power either to keep Regis off, but he does have the boxing skills. So if he keeps it at distance, jabbing and circling around, then I could see him winning a decision.”
“But everything could change with one punch. Regis has that power, he’s dangerous. He hits hard, you can see that his opponents feel the power.”
The fight, which takes place on December 9 in San Francisco, will be Haney’s first outing since his close, and potentially controversial, hard fought win over Vasiliy Lomachenko back in May.
Prograis’ last performance was one of his more underwhelming ones, a very uneventful decision win over middling contender Danielito Zorrilla in front of a hometown crowd in New Orleans.