Very few in the boxing world knew who Evins Tobler was until Tuesday, October 17th when he took the stage with Regis Prograis for the WBC junior welterweight world champion’s press conference to promote his fight with Devin Haney, the undisputed lightweight world champion, on December 9th, at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
The press conference got going with insults being thrown from Tobler toward the Haney’s both Bill, and Devin, but mostly Bill Haney. It seems Tobler was genuinely peeved at a perception he had, and a lingering suspicion that was all the buzz in the Prograis team. The feeling seemed to be simple - if Regis had knocked out Danielito Zorrilla, the Prograis side felt Haney’s team would not have taken this fight.
After the fiery press conference, ProBox TV News caught up with Tobler, who was sitting in a folding chair off to the side and out of the way of eyesight from Regis Prograis, as Prograis fulfilled his media obligations.
“To me, it is all disrespect, the only reason they took the fight is because they thought they saw Regis slipping, and thank god for that,” said Tobler directly to ProBox TV News. “To me. It is disrespectful to [Regis Prograis’] craft, he is a two-time world champion. How did a fighter like Devin Haney who got hurt itty bitty Linares, and he really lost to Loamchenko going to deal with this monster.”
The feeling from Tobler was simple. He feels that Haney's path was one of entitlement. One could even look at the media event around a pay-per-view fight and almost come to that conclusion, Haney did one eight-minute media scrum and left fulfilling some media obligations later in the day. Contrast that with Prograis who did roughly forty-to-forty-five minutes of interviews straight to promote and sell the pay-per-view fight. It might not solely be a feeling of being moved differently, it might also be a sheer difference in personalities, as Haney seemed to move like a rockstar and force the limited attention on himself whereas Prograis was the guy you might see at a boxing gym who is nice to you.
Prograis was approachable, and Haney was very private with security close by to remind you that your time around him was limited.
“I have been with Regis for more than ten years now,” said Tobler explaining their close relationship. “All the work we have put in, we have got twenty-five knockouts. In the loss we had in England was a majority decision…[Prograis] is like my son. I have been working with this kid for years. I remember when [were not] making [any] money. He has never missed one day of training. We are dealing with two different caliber athletes as men. It is different when you step in the ring and everything is given to you.”
The press conference saw Tobler and Bill Haney become the star of the show, as Devin Haney said a few insults, and Prograis looked genuinely bored as it was mostly Tobler and Bill Haney, the elder statesmen bickering for the twenty or so minutes the event occurred prior to the media event afterward.
Tobler reflected on the press conference.
“It is boxing, man,” said Tobler, who one could say stole the show at the San Francisco press conference on Tuesday afternoon. “People think I talk [expletive], I speak the facts. The facts are that Devin Haney ain’t really had no real [hard] fights. He had four real fights in his career, and that was [George] Kambosos, [Jorge] Linares, Lomachenko, and [Joseph Diaz Jr]. Then he fought an [old] Gamboa. He has not been in a fight like this for his whole entire career.”
Tobler, who at the press conference continued to say Haney is going to get knocked out echoed those words in conclusion.
“He got fifteen knockouts, twenty-six wins only four real fights,” furthered Tobler to ProBox TV News. “When Haney gets hit in the mouth, it is going to cease, trust me [with what I am saying].”
