Regis Prograis is brimming with confidence ahead of next week’s anticipated clash with Devin Haney.
Speaking exclusively to ProBox TV, Prograis called Haney “entitled” and said he had been training for the former lightweight champion for four months in California. His last camp, said Prograis, was six weeks for Danielito Zorrilla, who was a late replacement. But now Prograis is training away from home and admits “the energy in this camp feels different.”
Prograis, 34, is 29-1 with the loan loss coming in a close thriller against Josh Taylor in London four years ago. He meets Haney, 30-0, in San Francisco on December 9 and Prograis was in fine form on ProBox TV.
“As a fighter, you have to do what you’ve got to do to get where you’re at but at the same time I came up the hard way, I fought for dollars, dollar cheques, I’ve still got them in the house right now, I just came up the hard way and I know he didn’t come up like me, that’s what I feel,” Prograis explained. “He’s entitled. They gave him a belt. I’ve never been given a belt. I had to fight for my belt. I had to fight a champion to get my belt. The second time, I fought [Jose] Zepeda for the vacant belt but I still had to fight for it. They literally just gave him [Haney] a belt. They just emailed him. His upbringing [in boxing] was definitely different from mine. I had to struggle and I just came up different and I just think that he is a little entitled.”
Prograis is the WBC super-lightweight champion but has taken second-billing on the posters for the fight. He knows the crude nature of boxing, but he uses it as motivation. Prograis might be a two-time champion, but his motivation reaches beyond that.
“I do it because I want to be the best, pound for pound,” Prograis continued. “I really I want to be known as the best person in my division, that’s why I do it. And this fight will bring me that. I know this fight will bring me what I’m looking for.”
Prograis praised Haney’s athleticism but said he did not think Haney was either as good or defensively sound as the fans and media had made out over the years
“Too good, too powerful and too fast,” Prograis said, of why he thinks he will win. “Once people get in there, they underestimate my speed. Honestly, I don’t use it as much as I should, because I know I do hit hard, but I feel I’m just too good. I feel I have him beat in every box… It’s going to be 12 rounds of pain.”
Prograis has stopped 24 of his 29 victims. Haney, aged 25, who lives in Las Vegas but was born in San Francisco, has halted 15 of 30.
Both will talk a good game in the final lead up to the fight, but Prograis implied that it will be just talk, because the fighters don’t know each other too well.
