Devin “The Dream” Haney is living his boxing moniker in real life as he became a two-weight-class world champion on Saturday night. Haney dished out a master class with a new record in his first fight at light welterweight.
The win is a shot in the heart at that hyper-critical of Haney’s ascension in boxing. With the jury still out over his close win over Vasiliy Lomachenko in May, stepping up in weight and winning a title in his first fight was nothing short of spectacular. His polarization is reminiscent of another young champion, Floyd Mayweather, who grew to become the most successful boxer-businessman ever.
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) won Prograis’ WBC junior welterweight title. The fight was his first in the 140-pound division. Haney also was the undisputed lightweight champion before vacating all four of his belts in late November after defeating Lomachenko.
Living The Dream
The judges scored the fight overwhelmingly for Haney with unanimous scores of 120-107, with him knocking Prograis down in the third round en route to the unanimous decision win. The fight capped a trash-talking pre-fight lead-up that turned the fight personal.
“I did everything that I said I was gonna do,” said Haney during the post-fight in-ring interview. “Went in there and I handicapped him. We knew that he was gonna come in with a big left hand. We capitalized on his habit of leaning in. I hit him with big shots. I knew that I was hurting him.
“I knew I was levels above him,” Haney continued. “I was killing myself to make 135 so much; I would go into a fight and be depleted. I wouldn’t be my best self. Now I’m able to go in there and be the real Devin Haney.”
Journey To Be Great
Prograis, who went into this fight to prove that he is someone the casual boxing fan should know about as much as the die-hards do, failed in that endeavor. Prograis set a new record, landing only 38 punches, breaking the record for the fewest punches landed in a 12-round championship fight per CompuBox.
“It was real hard to get to him,” said Prograis, who entered ranked No. 3 by ESPN at junior welterweight. His previous defeat came against Josh Taylor via a majority decision in October 2019. “His jab was good and quick. … His footwork was definitely better.”
Devin Haney is on a new mission for domination, and knowing that he wants to go even higher to welterweight, where all the monsters are, shows the grit of a rapidly evolving champion.
