Jack Catterall is expecting Devin Haney to dethrone Regis Prograis as WBC super lightweight champion – and wants to fight him next if he does.
The 30 year old is widely considered to have been wrongly denied the undisputed title by poor scoring when in 2022 he fought Josh Taylor.
He has since signed with Matchroom, who also promote Haney and Prograis, and ahead of the fight at the Chase Center arrived in San Francisco to push his claims to fight for the world title he too believes he deserved to win.
Saturday’s fight is the 25-year-old Haney’s first at 135lbs, and comes after Prograis in June struggled against Danielito Zorrilla.
“I’m slightly leaning towards Devin Haney,” Catterall told ProBox TV. “He’s got the better boxing IQ. Regis carries the power, but the coming up in weight for Haney to 140 will probably suit him. He looks big for the weight so maybe he hurt himself a little bit making 135.
“Watching his fights – the way he shuts down opponents – his clinical boxing and the way he adjusts and reads opponents. But Regis could stick it all over him, hurt him, and bash him up. That’s why the fight’s so interesting.
“He’ll have to [take more risks than against Zorrilla]. You don’t know until the first bell goes how much you’ve got to adjust and how much you’ve got to gamble.
“It’s gonna suit [Haney]. He’s tall enough and big enough for the weight – maybe it hurt him making 135 – but it’ll be an advantage coming up as long as he can hold himself and the guys don’t feel too strong for him.
“He’s a slick boxer. He’s a clean boxer, so to speak. He’s not reliant on knocking everybody out and being a bully and physical – he’s more of a tactician, so it’s in his benefit, going up.
“Prograis struggled to close the gap last time against Zorrilla – he struggled to close the distance – and Haney’s more of a counter-puncher on the back foot. Prograis would want Haney to stand in the middle of the ring with him, and that’s not going to be the case.”
Catterall recognises that at 34 Prograis could be in decline, but believes that Prograis defeated his rival Taylor when they fought in London in 2019.
“A lot of hard fights; a lot of tough fights over the last couple of years,” he continued. “Maybe it took its toll on him. He didn’t look great in the last fight, but a big fight like this he’ll be bang up for it; he’s got his world title to defend. It’s on a huge platform – you’d like to think he’ll turn up.
“It was a close fight [against Taylor]. There’s a slight argument either way but I definitely thought he edged it and beat Taylor by a round or two. I was at the fight. I watched it back before my fight with Taylor. Regis did enough to win.
“Eddie [Hearn] mentioned [me fighting the winner]. I’ve been invited over to come to the fight. I want to fight these big fights – whether that’s Haney or Prograis it’d be nice to get the winner and fight for a world title, but there’s some big fights out there for me.
“Eddie’s mentioned it – over these last couple of days – these are the fights that he wants to make and he’s mentioned there is a possibility of getting the winner. It’s in my interests to be at the fights and be around fight weeks and let people know that I’m here.
“I’m told I’ll be fighting, probably, first quarter next year. Still in that period of negotiations. We’ve got that fight to get through first and sit down and see what the options are.”
