Regis Prograis slams ‘weight bully’ Devin Haney
Former two-time world champion Regis Prograis (29-2, 24 KOs) accuses Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) of being a weight bully before the roles were reversed in his punishing defeat to Ryan Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs).
Garcia, with a clear size advantage over his opponent, secured a majority decision victory after flooring ‘The Dream’ on three occasions at the Barclays Center, New York, last Saturday, April 20.
Prograis claims that Haney employed similar tactics for their fight in December last year, by rehydrating to a weight that was above their agreed limit.
On Fight Hype, he said: “[There were] rumours that [Haney] did IV drips and all that type of s***. I mean, I never did that stuff, you know, but I know a lot of people who have done that stuff. In my contract, it was illegal.
“And then, [the weight that we] fought at – you not supposed to come in that big, so that was illegal too.
“Ryan did the same thing that he did to me. So, for me, I just think it’s karma. Karma comes around for everybody – that’s just how it is.”
Garcia came in 3lbs above the agreed super lightweight limit at Friday’s weigh in, downing a bottle of beer before stepping onto the scales – albeit for the ceremonial weigh-in later that afternoon.
This meant that, despite causing the upset by winning the fight, he was unable to win the WBC title, which Haney had swiped from Prograis after comprehensively outpointing the former champion in his first bout at 140 lbs.
However, Prograis remains convinced that Haney entered the ring at a higher weight than what was agreed and, therefore, has no qualms with Garcia giving the American a taste of his own medicine.
Nevertheless, the defending WBC champ has retained his world title at super lightweight, while Garcia eyes a move up to 147 lbs.