Devin Haney Dominates Regis Prograis ~ By “Unanimous” Decision … Espinoza Over Ramirez

By Tom Donelson / contributor to www.dmboxing since 2008 / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

This past Saturday, Devin Haney challenged Regis Prograis for Prograis WBC 140-pound championship. Haney had yet to lose in his thirty fights with fifteen knockouts and Prograis came in the fight with only one loss with twenty-nine victories and twenty-four knockouts.

Haney obtained his lightweight title when he defeated George Kambosos Jr in Kambosos  backyard in Australia and then won the rematch before winning a close fight against Vasyl Lomachenko. 

Prograis won his title from Jose Zepeda in an 11th round knockout before struggling in a split decision against Danielito Zorrilla in his first defense and now he faced the slick boxer, Haney.  This was a bout featuring the slick boxer versus the puncher.

Haney out jabbed Prograis and was busier fighter and I had him winning round one but a close round as Prograis had solid body shots. Haney was the busier fighter over the next two rounds and in the third round, Haney knocked Prograis down with a right for a 10-8 round. This was the first major surprise of the evening, and I had the fight 30-26. Haney landed twenty-three punches to Prograis 13 and while Haney only connected on 26% of his fight but Prograis landed 13%. 

In the fourth round, Haney continued his boxing and landed more punches as Prograis looked tentative from the previous rounds and now it was 50-45 for Haney on my card.

Haney took Prograis to school as through the first half he landed fifty-eight punches to only twenty for Prograis.

The seventh and eight round, Haney continued to school Prograis who looked lost and unable to figure out a way to change the tide.  Haney combinations flowed effortlessly and after eight rounds, Haney pitched a shutout 80-71. 

In the ninth round, Prograis threw a left hook that missed wildly and then it was Haney who simply landed any punch he wanted and dominated his opponent and now after nine rounds, it was 90-80.

Haney now going for the knockout in the tenth as he simply throwing combinations and in the eleventh round, Prograis face was a swollen mess as he was simply being outclassed by Haney.  And in the final round, Haney put the finishing touch of an easy shutout victory and I had the fight 120-107. And all the judges agreed with me, 120-107.

On ESPN Robeisy Ramirez defended his featherweight title against Rafael Espinoza.   Ramirez came in the fight 13-1 with eight knockouts versus Espinoza who has eighteen knockouts in twenty-one wins and no defeats.

The first round saw Espinoza being the aggressor and while no punches of significance was  landed, Espinoza aggressive approach won the first round by throwing eighty-three punches, but he only landed eight while Ramirez landed seven but threw only twenty-five.  Espinoza dictated the second round as well and after two rounds had 20-18 for Espinoza.  And after three rounds Espinoza averaging eighty punches thrown but while connect rate is low, he was landing the most punches. The fourth round was not much different from the first three and I had the fight an easy 40-36.  

In the fifth round, Rameriz was losing the round as he did for the first four rounds, but he knocked down Espinoza with seconds left and Espinoza barely made it to his corner. The sixth round was a tough one to score as Espinoza landed some solid punch but with thirty seconds left, Ramirez landed a right left as he buckled Espinoza knee, it was close round, but I gave it to Ramirez and had it 57-56 for Espinoza at the halfway mark.

Ramirez landed the heavy punches against Espinoza in the seventh round, but Espinoza continued to come forward in spite of being hurt and the fight was even on my card 66-66 and as the eighth round began, Espinoza punches were losing steam, but he maintains the aggressive stance and Ramirez look to counter. Espinoza won the round but a close round and after eight, it was76-75 on my scorecard.   (ESPN had it 76-75 for Ramirez)

Espinoza continued to be the aggressor in the ninth round and his guts carried him through the round and he continued this into the tenth round and on my scorecard I had him up 96-93 for the challenger.

In the eleventh round, Espinoza continued to go after Ramirez and one comment made by Tim Bradley that Ramirez may have allowed Espinoza off the hook by not going to the body and looking for one shot  This allowed Espinoza to win the round 106-102. 

In the final round Espinoza turned it on in the final round and left nothing in the ring as he dominated the final championship round and in the last minute of the round he pushed the champion to the rope and knocked him down.  I had the final round 116-110.   ESPN had it 114-112 in favor of Espinoza, but I had it much wider as he landed more punches by a wide margin. 

The final judges scorecard, 113-113, 114-112, 115-111 for Espinoza but how does this fight gets scored 113-113.  As mentioned I thought the 114-112 was too narrow.

Espinoza connected on 222 punches out of 995 punches thrown versus 119 punches connected out of 376.  Ramirez was more judicial throwing punches, but Espinoza threw punches in bunches and many of those punches landed.  In the last three rounds, Espinoza threw 102 punches, eighty-six punches and 121 punches, so he got stronger over the last three rounds.  He connected on 104 punches in the last three rounds versus thirty-three for Ramirez.  He connected on more punches in nine of the twelve rounds and both fighters recorded a knockdown.  My score reflects what Compubox numbers were.

One thought on “Devin Haney Dominates Regis Prograis ~ By “Unanimous” Decision … Espinoza Over Ramirez

  1. Haney was sharp, but he entered very heavy. Espinoza was a clear winner and Ramirez fought well.

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