This past Saturday at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Devin Haney, stepping up to fight at the 140-pound weight class for the first time, dominated Regis Prograis in 12 rounds despite a historically low punch count, dropping him in the third and winning every round on all three scorecards for a 120-107 unanimous decision to capture the WBC super lightweight championship.
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) set a record for the lowest number of punches landed over a twelve-round fight ever recorded by CompuBox, connecting on just 36. Still, with the win, the 25-year-old who was born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland, became a two-division champion. He previously was the undisputed lightweight world champion.
The 34-year-old Prograis, from New Orleans, dropped to (29-2, 24 KOs)
“That’s a good record to set,” Haney said. “That was part of the game plan. Go in there, handicap him of his best things. His best thing was his left hand. That was his bread and butter. And we took it off the table. I don’t even think he landed that many punches.”
Haney said he was expecting a favorable outcome moving up to 140.
“No, I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “I knew that if I went in there and stuck to the game plan and I was in there disciplined it would work out. But like I said, I knew I was a level above him. These guys, I’m levels above them.
You know, I was killing myself to make 135 so much,” he explained, “so when I would get into a fight, I would go into the fight and I would be depleted. I wouldn’t be my best self. So now, I’m able to go in there and be the real Devin Haney.”
Looking forward, there are potential fights against WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia, and even the possibility of moving up to 147 lbs to face unified champion Terence Crawford. A fight against Garcia appears to be the most likely of those three.
On Saturday in Pembroke Pines, Florida, Rafael Espinoza (24-0, 20 KOs) captured the WBO featherweight championship with a 115-111, 114-112, 113-113 majority decision win against Robeisy Ramirez (13-2, 8 KOs).
“I didn’t think about anything in here,” Espinoza said of his focus. “I think I’ve had a broken foot since the second round. But what kept me on my feet was my daughter, my parents, my wife, and my family. I knew that all of Mexico was watching me. And I knew that I had to become a world champion.”
In the co-main event, Xander Zayas (18-0, 12 KOs) defeated Jorge Fortea (24-4-1, 9 KOs) by fifth-round TKO.