San Francisco native Devin Haney wins WBC belt in front of hometown crowd
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Devin Haney beat Regis Prograis by unanimous decision in his division debut to win the WBC super welterweight title in his hometown on Saturday night.
Haney (31-0) remained unbeaten with a slow but dominant victory over Prograis in front of a sellout crowd at Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the Golden State Warriors.
All three judges scored the bout 120-107 in Haney’s favor. Prograis (29-2) lost for the first time since October 2019.
“It’s a dream come true,” Haney said. “I knew I had him hurt a few times. I went in there and was real disciplined. I made it as easy as possible.”
It was Haney’s first fight as a super welterweight after dominating as the undisputed lightweight crown. Haney made the decision to move up after having trouble making weight at lightweight.
Now as a two-division champion, Haney is eyeing a third title.
“I want to talk to my dad and see what’s next,” Haney said. “I want to do a fight at 147 but there’s a lot of fights at 140.”
The San Francisco native was cheered wildly while repeatedly landing a stiff left hand and several hard right hooks that kept Prograis from finding a rhythm.
He dropped Prograis in the third round with a stinging straight right hand.
Prograis couldn’t avoid Haney’s crisp right hand to the head that repeatedly landed and opened a small cut on his nose in the sixth round.
Prograis, who was criticized following a lackluster win over Danielito Zorrilla in June, picked up the pace in the latter rounds but it wasn’t enough. Haney continued to pepper Prograis and staggered the former champ with three consecutive hard right hooks in the ninth.
“He doesn’t have power to where it hurts you but it’s quick power,” said Prograis, who landed only 38 punches according to CompuBox. “It was hard to get to him. He’s definitely better than I thought he was.”
Prograis said he plans to stay in the 140-pound division with eyes on winning the title a third time. He also talked about the possibility of doing MMA in the future.
The win opens the door for Haney to take part in big money fights now. Among those being rumored for his next fight are Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia.
“I want to make the biggest, best fights happen,” Haney said. “The biggest fights are the most money.”
In the co-main event, Liam Paro beat Montana Love by TKO in the sixth round to win the WBO Intercontinental super lightweight championship. Paro dropped Love twice earlier in the round with a left uppercut and a left to the head before the referee stopped the fight.
Also on the undercard, Japan’s Miyo Yoshida won the women’s IBF bantamweight title by unanimous decision over defending champion Ebanie Bridges. Former Olympic champion Andy Cruz, in his second professional fight, defeated Jovanni Straffon by TKO in the third round to win the IBF and vacant WBA Continental Latin American lightweight titles.
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