By Declan Warrington
FOR AS lengthy because the earth continues to spin there’ll stay confirmed fighters who stroll to the ring completely assured of victory – and who in flip proceed to lose so convincingly to their youthful opponent that they as an alternative shortly look equally misplaced.
To spend time round Regis Prograis in the times earlier than his WBC super-lightweight title defence in opposition to Devin Haney was to detect a fighter not solely relishing the check he was anticipating, however one he wholeheartedly believed he would cross. A brooding alpha male energised by the prospect of preventing the groomed-for-greatness, naturally larger, youthful, more energizing athlete he believed was favoured by the promoter and broadcaster they shared – no matter the place they’d struggle, or when.
Inside three rounds, nevertheless, the 34-year-old Prograis began to look misplaced – conscious, as he was, of the truth he was confronting. As he was presupposed to, Haney was preventing on the again foot and trying to stay out of hurt’s method; what he wasn’t presupposed to do was punish Prograis in the best way he did when he dropped him.
Prograis had anticipated Haney to show as weak as he perceived him to be at 135lbs; he additionally hadn’t anticipated Haney proving able to hurting him. In that third spherical when he was dropped by a straight proper hand he shortly returned to his toes and nodded in acknowledgement. When he then missed the goal with one other punch Haney smiled; they had been concurrently realising the gulf in high quality being revealed.
There stay these destined to proceed to carry in opposition to Haney the notion that he didn’t deserve the choice in May over Vasyl Lomachenko. If they due to this fact dismiss its validity they might come to treat his victory over Prograis because the evening he got here of age as an elite skilled – hype and promise changed by proof and substance; the evening when in opposition to a fighter’s fighter he received each spherical.
Haney dominates (Ed Mulholland/Matchroom)
The 25-year-old Haney’s struggles to make the 135lbs light-weight restrict might have been high-profile and long-term, however there remained many who continued to query his punch resistance and energy. If the extent of these struggles made it likeliest that at 140lbs his punch resistance would enhance, Prograis succeeded in touchdown so little that Haney’s chin stays unproven, and but left San Francisco’s Chase Center extra conscious than any that in his new weight division Haney’s punches trigger significantly extra hurt.
When Prograis returned to his nook on the finish of the opening spherical – Haney had already landed a straight proper and a counter left hand – swelling was already showing by his proper eye. When he returned to his nook on the finish of the second, in which he absorbed a powerful uppercut, his face had reddened additional, and he was already beginning to look overwhelmed up.
If he was extra successfully chopping down the ring than all through his disappointing win over Danielito Zorrilla in June, the consistency and accuracy of “The Dream” Haney’s jab and counters recurrently punished his ambition. His backside lip began to swell up after the primary knockdown; he was additionally sometimes being harm to the physique.
As early because the fourth he was being made to look outdated and one-dimensional, and largely as a result of a sample already existed in which Haney would throw mixtures and Prograis, counting on a single shot, recurrently fell quick.
Haney, as a consequence of sharing the ring for 12 rounds with an awesome fighter like Lomachenko, had visibly improved. There was a second in the fifth when he edged backwards in the direction of the ropes as Prograis adopted him, and he then seamlessly turned him in order that he was the fighter in the centre of the ring.
When in the sixth a left-right mixture buckled Prograis’ legs, Haney confirmed the identical maturity, persistence and self-discipline that had impressed a lot of his earlier success by refusing to drive the knockdown that was open to him. Prograis responded by retreating; he additionally ended the spherical with a minimize on the bridge of his nostril.
A counter proper hand and proper to the physique caught the attention in the seventh, and a strong proper uppercut much more so in the eighth. Before the ninth began it had change into time for Prograis’ revered coach Bobby Benton to contemplate pulling him out – so inevitable was the end result due to the extent to which Haney was timing Prograis with ease.
There adopted a merciless second in the tenth when New Orlean’s exhausted Prograis, essentially the most dignified of fighters, suffered the indignity of twice reaching and lacking along with his left hand after which struggling for steadiness and to stay upright after he did. Haney resisted pursuing the stoppage thereafter, however doing so did little to forestall Prograis swinging, lacking and virtually falling once more in the twelfth, nor stopping the three scores of 120-107 from the ringside judges Ray Danseco, Fernando Villarreal and Mike Ross. So clear and scientific was Haney’s efficiency in entrance of the vocal assist of the 17,000-strong crowd in town of his beginning that the referee Jack Reiss wanted to do little or no. Matchroom and DAZN will already see the worth in him preventing there once more.
Devin Haney celebrates beating Regis Prograis (Ed Mulholland/Matchroom)
Liam Paro might but show Prograis’ subsequent opponent, having been scheduled to struggle him in June till an Achilles damage compelled his withdrawal and having additionally earlier impressed in stopping Cleveland’s Montana Love in six rounds. The Australian, from Brisbane, was beginning to outwork Love when in the fifth spherical he dropped him with a left uppercut to the chin. When Love returned to his toes a straight left despatched him again to the canvas, and with him then struggling to defend himself underneath additional strain the referee Thomas Taylor intervened to rescue him after 109 seconds.
There was additionally a stoppage victory for Cuba’s thrilling Andy Cruz, over Jovanni Staffron of Mexico City, Mexico. He had regarded slick, quick and aggressive from the opening spherical, and in the second first harm Staffron with a proper to the physique. When he then landed a proper uppercut Staffron was struggling to outlive; an additional uppercut and additional proper fingers adopted, and but the referee Edward Collantes recklessly resisted saving him. The useless punishment – Boxing News scored the second spherical 10-8 in Cruz’s favour – continued till 53 seconds into the third spherical, when Cruz, from Matanzas however based mostly in Philadelphia, was lastly awarded victory.
Ebanie Bridges had by then sacrificed the IBF bantamweight title when she misplaced to Miyo Yoshida of Kagoshima, Japan. She struggled all through the course of their 10 two-minute rounds and rightly misplaced by way of unanimous resolution, however the scores of 99-91, 97-93 and 99-91, respectively from Lou Moret, Pat Russell and Zachary Young, had been excessively broad. Bridges, of New South Wales, Australia, has due to this fact misplaced on the 2 events – the earlier was in opposition to Shannon Courtenay – she has been stepped up.
There had been additionally victories for Beatriz Ferreira, Amari Jones and Shamar Canal, respectively in the eighth of eight rounds in opposition to Destiny Jones, in the fifth of eight in opposition to Quilisto Madera, and by way of unanimous resolution over six rounds in opposition to Jose Antonio Meza.
The Verdict – All indicators level to a vivid future for Haney and, in flip, the brand new weight class in which he roams.
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