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SCORECARDS: 120-107, 120-107, 120-107 for Devin Haney. He becomes a two-division champion.
In his first fight at 140 pounds, former undisputed lightweight king Devin Haney took a pound-for-pound sized step forward into stardom.
The 25-year-old Haney (31-0, 15 KOs), who fights out of Las Vegas, returned to his birthplace of San Francisco on Saturday to capture a second world title in as many divisions with a brilliant shutout of WBC junior welterweight champion Regis Prograis inside a sold out Chase Center. All three judges scored it 120-107 for Haney, who dropped Prograis (29-2, 24 KOs) in Round 3 and was simply sublime throughout.
The bout was the main event of a DAZN pay-per-view card and marked Haney's return to Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Sport following a three-fight run with ESPN (and co-promoters Top Rank and DiBella Entertainment), which saw Haney reach P4P acclaim through lightweight conquests of former unified titleholders George Kambosos Jr. (twice) and Vasiliy Lomachenko. Yet, it was Haney's performance in his 140-pound debut that may have been virtuoso enough on this night to defeat anyone else on the planet.
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"At 140, we have a new king," Haney said. "This means everything. Since I was a young kid, my dream was to come back to the Bay Area and put on a big event. What better time than now with 16,000 people coming out to support me?"
Haney was so dominant that he limited the 34-year-old Prograis to a CompuBox record of just 36 punches landed over 12 rounds, which broke Shakur Stevenson's new record set just last month when he held Edwin Des Los Santos to 40 total connects in capturing the WBC lightweight title, which Haney chose to vacate.
In fact, Haney's 129 landed punches were nearly four times that of his opponent. Thanks to a patient attack and masterful control of distance, the counterpunching Haney landed 35% of his punches overall, including an absurd 46.5% of his power shots.
"That motherf---er is good!" Prograis said. "He is better than I thought, I'm not going to lie. I'm going to give [trainer] Bill [Haney] and his team credit. Look, we still keep the same energy but I am going to tell the truth. Devin Haney is better than I thought, I'm not going to lie. He is.
"His feet are faster and he's quicker than I thought he was. I couldn't seem to get to him, he was quick."
Not only was Haney too quick for Prograis, his pinpoint accuracy helped the power in his right hand become an instant factor. Haney made Prograis pay enough early on for coming forward that his output decreased over the second half.
"I did everything that I said I was going to do," Haney said. "I went in there and handicapped him; I went the opposite way and took [his jab] away. We knew he would try to come in with a tremendous jab but I followed the hell of a gameplan my dad came up with and we did what we said we were going to do."
A beautiful counter right hand from Haney floored Prograis in Round 3. Similar crosses badly hurt Prograis and forced him to do a dance in order to regain his balance in both Round 6 and 9.
"His power did surprise me," Prograis said. "I thought he was a soft puncher. He does have power. He's not the one-punch kind but he is quick. I was down and I was like, 'What the f--- happened to me?' He's quick and it's the shots that you don't see coming that are the most dangerous."
Haney said the five-pound difference in moving up to junior welterweight likely increased his power after not being forced to cut down in weight so aggressively.
"It made a tremendous difference and you can see that in my performance," Haney said. "I feel so much stronger and in this camp, I was able to recover and relax more. I felt great.
"[On the knockdown,] I hit him with a sharp right hand. I knew that he had habits of leaning in and we capitalized on that."
After the fight, Haney teased a possible move directly up to welterweight. But even Hearn seemed to focus more on the gluttony of young stars currently operating within the 140-pound division.
"We know how good Devin Haney is," Hearn said. "Could he transport that to 140? The answer is yes. He looked quicker and stronger. This is a special, special talent. I think this is a guy who can go to 147 and I struggle to see who can beat him. You are going to have big power and fast hands. He hardly broke a sweat tonight. That was an absolute clinic of a performance.
"But Ryan Garcia is a huge fight for us, Gervonta Davis is a huge fight. Teofimo Lopez is a huge fight. And I think he beats them all."
The undercard saw a pair of knockouts from rising contenders. Liam Paro finished off Montana Love dramatically in the sixth round to improve his standing in the 140-pound division. And Andy Cruz showed why many are high on the former Cuban Olympian as he dispatched of Jovanni Staffon with ease in the third round in just his second pro fight. Plus, Miyo Yoshida scored a stunning upset when she took the IBF bantamweight title off of Ebanie Bridges in the PPV opener.
CBS Sports was with you throughout the entire way on Saturday with the live results and highlights below.
Fight card, results
- Devin Haney def. Regis Prograis (c) via unanimous decision (120-107, 120-107, 120-107)
- Liam Paro def. Montana Love via sixth-round TKO
- Andy Cruz def. Jovanni Straffon via third-round TKO
- Miyo Yoshida def. Ebanie Bridges (c) via unanimous decision (99-91, 99-91, 97-93) -- IBF bantamweight title
Haney vs. Prograis scorecard, live coverage
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haney | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 119 |
| Prograis (c) | 10 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 108 |
