Josh Taylor defeated Regis Prograis on his way to becoming the undisputed junior welterweight world champion. Now Taylor has spoken about the December 9th pay-per-view fight between Devin Haney and Regis Prograis.
Taylor's opinion which was given to Boxing News might shock some as he favors Haney.
“I think that’s a great fight," said Taylor to Boxing News. "I just think Devin Haney is a little bit too young, too fast, too sharp."
Taylor who defeated a who's who in the junior welterweight division recently lost to Teofimo Lopez earlier this year. Despite looking bad in his last performance, reassuring the reader that he is still the top guy in the division, he is using that metric as a way to evaluate Prograis and Haney. When further questioned Taylor explained why he picked Haney.
"Prograis didn't look too clever in his last fight [in his last fight against Danielito Zorrilla]," said Taylor. "Haney boxed [Vasiliy] Lomachenko and that was a great performance and a great fight. I thought Haney looked very sharp. Just going off those two performances, if I was a betting man, I would place my money on Haney.
As for what could be next for Taylor nothing is set in stone, but one interesting fun fact came out this week as Boxing News once again reported that David Avanesyan, a former Terence Crawford opponent at welterweight, is interested in facing Taylor and welcoming him to the welterweight division. The question though is - will Taylor move up or will he look to regain his reign at junior welterweight? As Avanesyan hinted there has been traction in making a fight with Taylor.
“I respect Taylor and his team," Avanesyan told Boxing News. "Let’s just make a fight and have a fight. Why not do it? We have been in talks, but I have not heard back. I like to fight so am here to make it happen. I am ready to go again. I have been asking it.”
Regardless of the outcome, Haney-Prograis is one of the most interesting bouts of the fourth quarter and Josh Taylor is still one of the most fascinating figures in the sport of boxing.
