REGIS PROGRAIS and Devin Haney are close to agreeing a fight to face one another later this year.
Should the bout be finalised then Haney would move from lightweight to super-lightweight to challenge Prograis 29-1 (24) for his WBC title.
Overnight the sanctioning body announced that Haney 30-0 (15), the current undisputed lightweight champion, had been approved to fight Prograis. This decision will allow the 24-year-old to be named their champion-in-recess. This gives Haney the luxury of staying at 140lbs or moving back down to 135lbs. Should he decide to return to lightweight then the WBC would order a fight between Haney and whoever the world champion is at that point.
The mandatory challenger for Haney’s WBC lightweight belt is Shakur Stevenson. His opponent would be the highest available contender for the vacant strap. As things stand that means Stevenson would take on Vasyl Lomachenko who lost a disputed decision to Haney on May 20 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Boxing News spoke to Prograis’ promoter Eddie Hearn today who gave this update.
“Talks between the two parties have been extremely positive,” he said.
“We are looking to close the fight out this week. We are finalising contracts with both fighters. [The] bout [is] expected to take place end of October, early November. Multiple venues, locations [are] still being considered and hopeful to be able to be in a position to announce as early as next week.”
Prograis was announced as a Matchroom Boxing fighter on May 6 in Mexico where Canelo Alvarez defended his super-middleweight throne against John Ryder.
The 34-year-old then made his debut for Hearn last month against Danielito Zorrilla in his home city of New Orleans. Despite a flat performance from the champion he got the nod with a split decision against the Puerto Rican.
“We definitely have to go back to the gym and work on some things,” a disappointed Prograis told DAZN boxing analyst Chris Mannix in the post-fight interview.
Should Prograis vs Haney take place then it would reunite the latter with Hearn having worked with him for the majority of his career before joining Top Rank in March 2022. Three months later ‘The Dream’ went on to defeat George Kambosos in Australia to become undisputed at 135lbs. A rematch took place in October back Down Under where Haney won once again with another virtuoso performance. The undefeated American became a free agent after beating Lomachenko and now looks set to have his 31st fight on a Matchroom promotion against Prograis.
