There have been countless exciting boxing matches this year, from Fury v Ngannou, the other Fury brother v KSI and Canelo v Charlo; adding to the list, Devin Haney will fight for the second time this year, this time taking on Regis Prograis.
There has been a lot of smack talk going back and forth between both camps, but who will take home the W? In this article, I dive into the chances of each fighter winning.
What are the factors?
Reach, Stance, Height
Both Haney and Prograis stand at the same height of 5 ft 8 (173cm). Despite this, when it comes to reach, Haney will have the advantage as he has a reach of 180cm, while Prograis’s reach is ten cm shorter at 170cm.
Additionally, both fighters have an opposite stance; Haney fights in an orthodox stance (where fighters stand with their left foot in front and their right foot in the back). Your right hand is connected to your chin or head, while your left hand is in the lead. The lead left hand is the first line of defense to test the range between you and your opponent) while Prograis stands in the opposite of the southpaw (where the boxer has the right hand and the right foot forward, leading with right jabs and following with a left cross-right hook. It is the normal stance for a left-handed boxer).
Previous Record
Haney is coming in as the favorite to win again as an undisputed champion with a 30-0-0 record, while Prograis is the undercard, carrying a similar record to his opponent at 29-0-1.
While Haney is the favorite to win, it will probably be a challenging victory for him. One of the main reasons Haney has the upper hand is that he remains undefeated in the lightweight division, unlike Prograis, who lost his first and only bout to Josh Taylor in 2019 by majority decision.
Despite having a slightly worse record, Prograis has a slight advantage in another way – he has won 24 of his 30 fights by KO, while Haney has only KO’d 15 of his 30 opponents. This may be a true testament to Prograis’s strength, and while Haney may be the better technical boxer, Prograis might be the more powerful boxer.
Age
Devin is currently twenty-five, whereas Regis is ten years older. This should play a huge advantage for Haney as technically he should be faster and have more energy; however, when Haney fought his other opponent of the year, Lomachenko, who was also ten years older than him, the fight was a lot closer than what many viewers anticipated, some even argued that Loma was the actual winner. Regis does have a few more years of experience than Devin – but will experience beat age in the ring?
Move-in weight class
That being said, this will be Haney’s first fight in the welterweight division after relinquishing all of his lightweight titles.the fighter has gained five to 140 pounds to become a two-division champion. “I did everything at 135 that I could,” “The biggest fight for me was making that Gervonta Davis fight, and his side showed no interest in making the fight. I’ve outgrown the division,” Haney explained the reasons for the move up in weight class.
Five pounds may not be a tremendous amount of weight to gain, but this could affect his performance as he will be a little heavier, potentially making it harder for him to move around the ring smoothly. We saw a similar case of this happen in the Canelo v Charlo fight in which Charlo moved up two weight classes to fight Canelo, and despite feeling very ready for the battle in a post-fight conference, Charlo admitted he felt ‘heavier’ and found it more challenging to move around.
The Odds
The current average odds, as collected by TXODDS, are Haney 1.240 and Prograis 3.712.
Besides who will be crowned victorious, if you want to place a wager, there are a few other variables to bet on.
How many rounds will it go?
While Haney is the favorite to win, It seems as though when it comes to going the distance by looking at the history of their previous fights, Prograis might have the advantage as the majority of his fights have not gone the scheduled amount of rounds, whereas Haney’s at least in recent history usually do.
Average odds to go the distance 1.198 , fight to be stopped beforehand 3.150.
Will there be a KO or UD victory?
While Haney has one additional win over Prograis, Prograis has a much higher KO record of nearly ten. Prograis has ended most of his fights either by KO or TKO and is relatively consistent with that record, yet Haney’s last KO win was five years ago in 2019.
Average odds on KO victory:
Haney 7.443
Prograis 6.571
Odds on UD:
Haney 1.424
Prograis 7.286
