Matias Wants To Face Haney – ‘He’s Not What Everybody Believes’
Subriel Matias, the IBF junior welterweight champion, said he wished he could have beaten Regis Prograis like Devin Haney had.
‘The Dream’ had his first fight at 140 against the WBC champion. Haney dominated Prograis to win every round and dropped him to become a two-weight world champion. Following the win, Haney’s performance was praised. But there were also question marks over how good Prograis was. Matias admitted he did not view Prograis as a skilful boxer, having fought on the same card in 2018. This is even though Prograis is a two-time world champion.
Matias On Haney
“To be honest, I had the opportunity to fight on the same stage as Prograis in one of his previous fights and I realized then that he wasn’t all that. And I wanted to be the fighter to kind of remove that mask in a way that Devin Haney did last week,” Matias said
Nevertheless, Matias is making his own name in the boxing world. Matias is also coming off his own impressive win. He stopped Shohjahon Ergashev in round six to take his record to 20-1. His only defeat came at the hands of Petros Ananyan. Since then, he has stopped his last five opponents, making him one of the most destructive punchers in the division. After all, all his wins have come by way of stoppages.
The IBF champion has been linked with a huge unification fight with Teofimo Lopez. Reports indicated that talks were ongoing for a fight in February. But Matias pulled out after a hand injury. There is still hope of making that fight for the summer, but in the meantime, Matias has his eyes on Haney. Bill Haney alleged Matias wanted $4 million to fight Haney, something which his team denied. This was in response to suggestions that team Haney had made Matias an offer, but he had priced himself out.
Matias Vs. Haney
“I gave Peter Kahn a call about it. He didn’t sound too much boogeyman to me, at four million dollars ($4,000,000). I called him and said, “Devin said let’s talk.’ He said the kid wants four million so I waited about 30 minutes and called him back. He said, ‘No really, the kid wants four million dollars,” Bill Haney
“Subriel Matías’ team has not received any calls about negotiations to face Devin Haney. Peter Kahn has NOTHING to do with Subriel Matías. Promoter Juan Orengo and Matías’ manager, Pedro Cruz are the only representatives of ‘Orgullo De Maternillo,” Pedrito Cruz (Matias manager)
But if those issues over purses can be resolved, Matias is ready to give Haney his first defeat.
“First I want to face him because I want to take that mask off him and show that he’s not what everybody believes he is. And that he has something that belongs to me, which is that WBC title, and I want all the belts,” Matias
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