Today the festivities began in San Francisco to start the fall/winter promotional push for the fourth quarter pay-per-view fight between Devin Haney, and WBC junior welterweight world champion, Regis Prograis which will take place at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, on December 9th.
The bout will see Haney serving as the figurehead of the promotion despite being the challenger. Haney is currently the undisputed lightweight world champion, who is moving up to face Prograis, who is considered the best champion by some at the junior welterweight division.
Haney spoke to why this fight is being made, and what it means for him at this point in his career. Haney also spoke to Prograis posting on social media over the weekend an accusation that Haney lost a fight in Mexico only to have it changed via money. It appears Haney didn't like that Prograis didn't behave in a similar manner as he did over the weekend.
“He said something on Twitter, then got in person, and it [was] different energy,” said Haney in a scrum after the press conference, when responding to Prograis' social media post on X about him allegedly losing a fight in Mexico and having the fight changed. “I have wanted to fight him, and I called him out before [the Danielito Zorrilla fight] it just all aligned now that I was a free agent, and now that I am with Matchroom it all came to fruition.”
Devin Haney, who has spent most of his later childhood years in Las Vegas, but hails from the Bay Area, is looking to possibly take the reigns on an untapped marketplace in Northern California that is hungry for a great fighter. As his father, Bill Haney, stated at the press conference, they wanted a hard fight for coming back to the Bay Area, Haney is looking to become a two-weight world champion status, as he is fighting for the first time at junior welterweight, against possibly the best fighter in the division.
“I finally got [an opponent] that is willing to go back and forth [with me at the press conference with],” said Haney about his spirited comments towards Prograis at the San Francisco press conference. “[Prograis] might not believe I am what I say that I am ‘the real deal.’ So I have someone on the other side that don’t believe that, and I need to prove to them.
Haney is referencing the following moments in which he was lively and more animated than we have seen him at prior events or fight build-ups.
“I’m going to beat the [expletive] out of him,” Haney said at the press conference today. “If you look at the receipts, I called you [Regis Prograis] out before the [Danielito Zorilla] fight. This was the fight I always wanted at 140 if I couldn’t get one of the massive fights at 135 and so Regis Prograis was the guy who was next in line.”
Haney is no stranger to San Francisco having stayed in the city for training camps when training in San Carlos, California, at Victor Conte’s SNAC System gym. He also was a part of a professional card in San Francisco, California, when beloved San Francisco boxer, Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield headlined a card at the Longshoreman’s Hall. On that evening, Haney fought Jose Salinas of Central California nearly ten years later, he will be headlining a pay-per-view at the newest sporting center in the Bay Area, and Northern California for that matter.
“It is a blessing to be that guy to bring it back, I always said I was going to bring big boxing back to the Bay Area,” said Haney. “I have been getting booed [when Haney won the undisputed lightweight world title in Australia from George Kambosos Jnr.], so it feels good that now I am going to have that support, and my people embracing me, but at the end of the day I still have to go in there and take care of business.”
