All eyes will be on Devin Haney when he takes on the experienced Regis Prograis on Saturday night – and boxing expert Chris Oliver is backing him to deliver.
Boxing betting tips: Saturday December 9
2pts double Devin Haney to win by decision and Robeisy Ramirez to win by stoppage 5/4 (BoyleSports)
DAVID HANEY steps up to super lightweight to challenge WBC champion Regis Prograis on Saturday night, live on DAZN.
Haney is bidding to become a two-weight world champion after collecting all the belts at lightweight with back-to-back points victories over George Kambosos Jr in Australia. He won well and looked comfortable on both occasions, but his win over the great, but slightly faded, Vasyl Lomachenko in May was quite the opposite in a technical match-up of the highest order that many thought Haney lost.
However, he got the nod on all three scorecards to claim the biggest scalp of his career and now takes aim at a new division.
Prograis to make Haney work for win
Prograis is a serious test, with his narrow decision loss to Josh Taylor in the final of the World Boxing Super Series in 2019 his only defeat in 30 outings to date. That clash at London’s O2 Arena was a Fight of the Year contender and Prograis lost nothing in defeat, since when he has recorded five straight wins and captured a world title for the second time.
Four of those five victories came by stoppage to showcase the power of Prograis, with the highlight being his knockout of Jose Zapeda in the penultimate round of their thrilling contest 13 months ago. However, ‘Rougarou’ looked a little off the pace when labouring to a split decision victory over Danielito Zorrilla in June and that may be why he is as big as 10/3 for this latest title defence.
While Prograis is renowned for his heavy hands and exciting fights, Haney is all about the sweet science and his ability to outbox his opponents. With lightning-fast hands and a fantastic jab, Haney has the ring IQ to fully utilise his physical gifts and those attributes were fully on display in his brace of dominant wins over Kambosos Jr.
The latter’s aggression was used against him as Haney had him chasing shadows and constantly peppered his man with lead left hands from the outside, a repeat of which could be on the cards from the 2/7 favourite in San Fransico this weekend.
The negative approach and long levers of Zorrilla may have played a big part in Prograis not looking so great last time, but it could also have been a case of age catching up with up with the 34-year-old a little. If that is the case, then he could be in for a long night against Haney, who has the superior footwork to make it very difficult for the underdog to close the gap and land his power punches.
Prograis is the one who has fought at super-lightweight for his whole career, but he may not be the bigger or stronger man here, with Haney sure to relish this step up to 140lb. ‘The Dream’ was always huge for a lightweight and clearly outgrew that division some time ago, so having an extra 5lb to play with could well see him raise his game to another level.
A wily veteran now, Prograis will be looking to use all his tricks against his younger foe, but it could be the youth of Haney that is the deciding factor here and he is expected to be too sharp from start to finish. If the champion can’t land something meaningful early on and make Haney uncomfortable, the latter can get into his rhythm and make this the kind of boxing match that he thrives on.
Things would get very interesting if Prograis can draw the challenger into a fight but it’s hard to escape the feeling that he may have had to wait a little too long for another fight of this magnitude, while Haney is only improving all the time.
Therefore, the selection must be Haney and, given his low-risk approach, it’s highly likely that it will be by decision if he does become the new champion. While Haney to win by decision is by far the most likely outcome in my opinion, that is reflected in the price and there is no juice in the 4/9 available about that outcome.
Rock-solid Ramirez makes up double
However, doubling it with ROBEISY RAMIREZ to successfully defend his featherweight title by stoppage at 8/15 could be the way to play the action in the US.
The show in Florida is live on Sky Sports and the supremely talented Ramirez should have far too much for Rafael Espinoza, who is unbeaten in 21 (18 early) but has only boxed mediocre opposition and mainly in his native Mexico.
Ramirez is a double Olympic gold medalist who successfully defended his WBO strap with a fifth-round knockout in July and a similar outcome beckons here.
Posted at 1250 GMT on 08/12/23
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