Regis Prograis Wants Haney to Drop His Belts at 135 To Fight Him
Let WBC super lightweight champion Regis “Rougarou” Prograis (29-1, 24 KO’s) tell it, he has an impending fight announcement on the way. If true, this late-year fight will come against undisputed lightweight champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (30-0, 15 KO’s). In seeking his bout however, The Dream has asked to retain his belts at 135 as he makes his initial foray into the super lightweight division. And as he confessed to EsNews, this is something Prograis is very much against.
“It’s bullshit, he can’t keep his belts. Mauricio [Sulaiman, WBC president] should strip him, he can’t keep his belt. Let somebody else fight for all them belts at 135! He trying to have a protection plan.
He trying to come up to 140, see if he can fight me, see if he can get this belt, which he not getting this belt; I am going to knock him the fuck out! I am going to beat him up bad. And then try to have a cushion at 135 and say, ‘I am still undisputed,’ no! We not doing that! If you coming to fight me, you stay at 140. You gotta fight me for my belt and that’s how it’s going to be!”
WOULDN’T BE THE FIRST TIME
It really would not be hard to envision the WBC being sympathetic to Haney and his request. They are the same organization who have allowed Jermall Charlo to remain their 160-pound champion without competing in over two solid years. The WBC also allowed Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to do the exact same thing.
While reigning as the undisputed super middleweight champion, he was allowed to fight Dmitry Bivol at light heavyweight, lose, then defend his 168-pound titles against Gennady Golovkin. The WBC also ignored the spirit and purpose of their own Clean Boxing Program protocols by giving the benefit of the doubt when both Alvarez and Oscar Valdez popped dirty for PED’s.
THE GREENER GRASS
Devin Haney could replicate Canelo’s division leaping as an undisputed champion by dueling Prograis then returning to 135 and dancing with two-division champion Shakur Stevenson or Regular WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis. Each would be big fights to fans and the bout with Davis could be particularly lucrative.
Given these potential mega-fights, it’s not hard to understand why Haney would want to keep as many of his available options open. It should also be stated that The Dream just defended his title against Vasiliy Lomachenko this past May, said to say he should have the better part of a year before being required to defend the WBC belt, anyway. So, it will be interesting to see how the brass at the WBC play their hands. Thankfully no matter what happens, 3Kings Boxing will be here to transmit all the latest boxing news and developments.
