The terrible marks of battle covered the face of Regis Prograis, the fallen champion, as he emerged first before the inquisition in the basement of the Chase Center in San Francisco. An hour earlier, shortly after the final bell that confirmed his ordeal was over and he had suffered a shutout loss to the brilliant Devin Haney to become the new WBC junior welterweight world champion, Prograis spoke with raw honesty in the ring.
“That son of a bitch is good, he’s better than I thought he was,” Prograis said of Haney, who had knocked him down in the third round and hurt him repeatedly during a long and painful beating. “I just couldn’t reach him. I thought he was a soft puncher, but he has power. I was down and thinking, ‘What the hell happened?’”
At the post-fight press conference, his face was bruised, cut and swollen, while red marks were smeared across his forehead and under his left eye, like lipstick applied in a drunken stupor. But his grace was evident as he praised Haney, who had won every round on all three scorecards and produced a masterclass that propelled him to the highest ranks of the pound-for-pound stakes. Haney, the 25-year-old former undisputed world lightweight champion, looked so much bigger, stronger, faster and younger than Prograis in his first fight at junior-welter. Rejuvenated by not having to starve himself to make the lightweight limit of 135 pounds, Haney delivered the best performance of his career to date.
Prograis told him this in the immediate aftermath of his crushing loss in a sold-out crowd: “I said, ‘Bro, you’re better than I thought you were.'” All his mocking words before the fight, which mocked Haney’s apparent lack of power and fragile chin were replaced by this new and genuine respect. “I tried and tried and tried, but I couldn’t get to him,” Prograis said, praising Haney for his “fast and sneaky power” and dazzling footwork.
“I trained really hard and it just wasn’t good enough,” Prograis admitted. The 34-year-old was a moving figure because instead of hiding in grief, he had come to us. An American reporter spoke solemnly but sympathetically as he urged Prograis to “hold your head up and walk straight.” You are still a champion for the people and I wouldn’t give up if I were you.
Prograis nodded as the old fire rekindled within him. “Thanks for the words, but I certainly won’t give up. Like I said, three-time world champion, that’s my goal right now. I told all my people in the locker room as they were crying, ‘Bro, lift your head up. It’s a fight. You’re going to win or lose. I’m not gonna lie. I trained really hard for four months for this fight, and it just wasn’t good enough. Sometimes that will happen in life.”
Related: Devin Haney becomes a two-weight champion with a shutout in his hometown against Regis Prograis
Eddie Hearn, his promoter who seemed to favor Haney during a noisy and sometimes acrimonious build-up, concluded Prograis’ press conference by saying, “Good job, Devin.” Hearn quickly realized his slip of the tongue and, somewhat sheepishly, corrected himself by turning to the deposed champion and saying his correct name: “Regis.”
Prograis looked up at him, shook his head somberly, and sighed, “Goddamn it, Eddie.”
While others waited for Haney’s regal arrival, I followed Prograis out of the interview room and down the hallway to the cold night outside where the cars waited to take him and his team back to their hotel. He walked ahead of his coaches, friends and family. He would have been alone if his seven-year-old daughter, Khalessi, had not held his left hand, which would not have caused Haney any harm.
Prograis turned around when I called his name. He smiled and walked over and extended his right hand. That hadn’t hurt Haney either, but none of that mattered anymore. I told him how much I admired the way he had behaved in the midst of the heartbreak. As Prograis murmured his thanks and we clenched our hands, I thought again about how much you really learn about a man’s character in defeat.
Five minutes later, in the same room where Progais had just left, the new boxing king burst in with his entourage. Wearing designer sunglasses and white gloves, Haney had also replaced the diamond studs in his earlobes and donned the watch that is reportedly worth $700,000. He and his father, Bill, who trains him, made their way to the top table. They were joined by a beaming Hearn who appears intent on extending their one-fight promotional deal that had bought boxing back to San Francisco, where Haney was born and lived for the first seven years of his life, for the first time in more than twenty years. .
Unlike his vanquished opponent, Haney had no mark on his face as he spoke with a serene mix of nonchalance and conviction. It was a performance of such virtuosity that Haney merely grinned when told that Prograis had set an unwanted record by breaking the CompuBox record for fewest punches in a twelve-round world championship fight. Prograis had landed only 39 punches, compared to the 139 punches that had broken his face, but Haney shrugged it off. He said it felt like Prograis had landed even fewer and that not a single hit had caused him any problems. Haney likened it to a sparring session while reminding us that until Saturday night, Prograis was considered the most accomplished and highest-scoring world champion at 140 pounds.
“I did everything I said I was going to do,” Haney muttered. “I went in there and I handicapped him. We knew he was going to come in with a big left hand, but we took advantage of his habit of leaning forward… and then I hit him with big shots.”
Haney smiled, because he had grown tired of being punished as a light-hitter who hadn’t struck out anyone in four years. “I knew I was hurting him,” he said bluntly before explaining that the serious weight cutting he had had to make for so long in the lighter division had robbed him of all his power. Haney talked about his frequent shock that the tough authority he had in the gym disappeared as soon as he stepped through the ropes for a lightweight match.
“I killed myself to make 135,” Haney said. “I would start fighting and get exhausted. I wouldn’t be my best self. Now I can go in there and be the real Devin Haney.”
He emphasized his belief that he could beat any other fighter in the junior-welterweight division, as well as all those campaigning at the 147-pound welterweight limit. “Devin is remarkable,” his father said. “He is really special and he showed that tonight.”
Haney Sr even went so far as to suggest that his son would soon be ready to fight Terence Crawford, the exceptional and vicious No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world to most boxing experts and fans. Crawford, who dismantled Errol Spence in July in the performance of the year at welterweight, will move up to 154 pounds next year – when he and Spence meet in a rematch. Haney Sr suggested he would like Crawford to return to welterweight after that fight as this is the division he believes his son will be at his best. But in the meantime, there are plenty of tempting and lucrative fights at junior welterweight.
Ryan Garcia was the name mentioned most often after Prograis was shipped. When he heard Garcia called him out on social media, Haney smiled again and said, “It’s good to hear he finally wants to fight.”
Haney was more dismissive of Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, suggesting a fight against the formidable Baltimore fighter, who knocked out Garcia in April, was currently unlikely. He blamed Davis for continually downplaying the prospect of their meeting in the ring, claiming that Garcia was a much clearer opponent.
His father, a ruthless brat, added: “Stop letting Tank and his team piss on your head and tell you it’s raining with these petty fights.”
But the fact that Haney is so good and so versatile that he can be compared to elite fighters at different weights, from Davis to Crawford, is the most vivid sign of his newfound appeal.
Haney was fortunate to have won his last fight, a desperately close points decision against a certified great in Vasiliy Lomachenko in May, but that fight had been his last at lightweight. He looks transformed now and the way he hurt, dropped and utterly dominated a boxer as tough and strong as Prograis underlined the opportunities that now await him in fights where he will no longer be exhausted by ferocious weight savings.
“It made a huge 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. This means everything. As a young child, I dreamed of returning to the Bay Area and hosting a major event. What better time than now, with 16,000 people coming to support me?”
Haney was also quick to say how much he wanted to box in Saudi Arabia, where the money is as obscene as the lack of human rights remains glaring. His diamonds sparkled and his gold teeth gleamed as he reflected on how a masterful performance had elevated his oft-unjustly maligned reputation – despite already being an undisputed world champion with an impeccable record of 30-0. But by stripping Prograis of his title with such brutal efficiency, doubters became believers in twelve sumptuous rounds.
“I want the biggest fights that make the most money,” Haney said as he looked ahead to his bright future, seemingly oblivious to the fact that boxing will one night get him too – just as it had with Prograis losing to the second time in 31 fights.
As all the talk of spinning the buck continued, it was hard not to think of his opponent traveling back through the dark streets. But at least Regis Prograis wasn’t alone. He still had his family and team around him, as well as the momentary comfort of knowing that by accepting a devastating loss with such class and composure, he looked more like a champion of a man than ever before.