Regis Prograis says he thinks Devin Haney shouldn’t take the rematch with Ryan Garcia next, but he believes he will for the money.
The former two-time light welterweight champion Prograis would like to see Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) take a tune-up first before facing Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) in a rematch because he needs to come back from that loss.
Shaken Confidence
If he goes straight into the rematch, he’ll be beaten again because Ryan dominated him so badly in their fight on April 20th last year. Regis sees Garcia beating Haney again, just like last time.
Many fans believe that Haney’s decision to sit out of the ring for a year is being made to wait on the rematch because he doesn’t want to take the risk of losing to someone.
Also, Devin did take a stay-busy fight, he would expect to be paid a lot of money, and he’s not going to get that facing a tomato can. If Devin was a PPV attraction like Gervonta Davis, he could fight a scrub and make good money.
“I’m not going to say he’s shot. I don’t think that, but I don’t think he’s going to beat Ryan. Mentally, he knows he got beat. He dropped three times and got his a** whipped by Ryan,” said Regis Prograis to YSM Sports Media when asked if Devin Haney is “shot,” but doesn’t think he can win a rematch with Ryan Garcia.
“That’s always going to be there. No matter what they put out there, and no matter what Bill [Haney] says, that’s always going to be in the back of his mind. ‘Damn, he really beat me.’ No matter what they say about the steroids and all that type of s***.
“You can say what you want, but he still lost. Yeah, he [Ryan] was wrong. He was using something he shouldn’t have supposed to, but how much did that really count? I don’t think Devin will be able to beat Ryan, but if he fights somebody else, I don’t know.”
Obviously, Haney isn’t shot, but his self-confidence is so low right now that he’s unwilling to take any risks as he waits for Ryan’s one-year suspension to be over. If he believed in himself, he’d stay busy and fight someone like IBF champion Richardson Hitchins, Teofimo Lopez, or Shakur Stevenson.
Cashing Out?
“We’ll see what happens next. I don’t think they are, and I don’t think they should fight Ryan again next,” said Prograis. “I think they should take a tuneup, something easier, and see how he [Haney] does and go from there. I don’t think they are going to do that. I think they are smart.
“Unless the only reason they do that is they’re trying to cash out, get a big, big crazy amount of money. I think a rematch with Ryan would be a big a** amount of money. So, they probably will do that, but for his career-wise, I don’t think he should fight Ryan next.
“I think he should try something else and then fight him. So, it all depends on the risk vs. reward type of thing. We got to see how he looks in his next fight, where it’s with Ryan or not with Ryan. So, I know it’s a big fight with Ryan, so maybe.
