Devin Haney had his way with Regis Prograis even easier Saturday night than the oddsmakers suggested.
The undefeated former undisputed lightweight champion dominated the strong southpaw in Haney’s debut at the junior welterweight limit and took the WBC 140-pound championship from Prograis. The taller, faster Haney masterfully dictated pace and range, dropped Prograis with a right hand in the third round and consistently landed the flusher punches in a fight that was much easier than his narrow win versus Vasiliy Lomachenko in his previous appearance May 20 in Las Vegas.
The resounding result was a wide win on all three scorecards for Haney in this DAZN Pay-Per-View main event at Chase Center. Judges Rey Danesco, Mike Ross and Fernando Villarreal all credited Haney for shutting out Prograis, 120-107
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs), an Oakland native who resides in Henderson, Nevada, looked big and stronger at his new weight and regularly landed the harder punches on the supposedly stronger Prograis (29-2, 24 KOs). The former champion from New Orleans couldn’t get inside to make this the type of rough, physical fight he needed to have a chance to win.
Prograis unofficially landed only 38 punches, the lowest total in a 12-round title fight since CompuBox began keeping track. The previous low was 40 by Edwin De Los Santos during his unforgettably boring 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat to Shakur Stevenson in their WBC lightweight title fight November 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
There were six rounds, according to CompuBox, in which Prograis landed only two punches.
Haney, 25, became a world champion in a second weight class and further established himself as one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the sport. The former undisputed lightweight champion, who was a 4-1 favorite, gave up the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 135-pound championships late last month because he didn’t think he could squeeze his 5-foot-9 frame down to the lightweight limit anymore.
Prograis, 34, lost a 140-pound championship for the second time in the past four years. Scottish southpaw Josh Taylor, who later became their division’s undisputed champion, topped Prograis by majority decision in their 12-round title unification fight in October 2019 at O2 Arena in London.
A then-unbeaten Prograis lost his WBA belt to Taylor, who retained his IBF crown. He later won the WBC belt, which was vacant at that time, by knocking out Jose Zepeda in the 11th round of their November 2022 title fight at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Though he hurt Prograis several times earlier in their bout, Haney seemed content during the 11th and 12th rounds to box his way to what was undoubtedly an easy victory. Some fans got restless during the 12th round, but they cheered Haney, who was born in San Francisco and lived in nearby Oakland as a child, as their bout came to an end.
Haney continued to pick apart Prograis during the 10th round, when he landed several right hands. Prograis’ struggles continued during that round, as Haney looked completely comfortable and built on his seemingly insurmountable lead.
Haney hammered Prograis with a right hand that knocked him off balance with over a minute to go in ninth round. Haney landed another right hand soon thereafter, but Prograis steadied himself.
Prograis’ short left landed on the inside a few seconds after the midway mark of the seventh round. Otherwise, however, Haney controlled the action in the seventh round, mostly with his jab.
Haney’s right hand made Prograis stumble with under a minute to go in the sixth round. Prograis bled from a cut on the bridge of his nose by then and was obviously behind on the cards.
A right hand by Haney snuck around Prograis’ guard just before the halfway point of the sixth round. Haney clipped Prograis with a left uppercut about 35 seconds into the sixth round.
Seemingly doing whatever he wanted, Haney landed a right-left combination a few seconds before the bell sounded to end the fifth round. He was in complete control by that point in the bout, as Prograis struggled to deal with his hand speed and movement.
A left-right combination by Haney stopped Prograis from coming forward with approximately 20 seconds to go in the fourth round.
After getting dropped early in the third round, Prograis caught Haney with a left hand in an exchange a few seconds before the third round ended.
A straight right by Haney sent Pgorais to the canvas a little less than 50 seconds into the third round and drew a collective roar from the crowd. Prograis used his gloves to keep himself from going all the way down
Prograis answered Reiss’ count quickly and tried to get back in the fight.
A right hook by Prograis grazed Haney about 20 seconds into the third round.
Haney nailed Prograis with a hard right uppercut when there was just under a minute remaining in the second round. Prograis went down a little later in the second round, but Reiss rightly ruled it a slip.
Another right hand by Haney landed with about 1:15 on the clock in the second round. Haney landed an uppercut a little less than a minute into the second round.
Haney landed a right hand just before the midway mark of the first round. Haney later landed a stiff jab in the opening round.
By Keith Idec