SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- San Francisco has not hosted a world title fight in well over a decade. Fight fans in the city are finally getting one this Saturday, Dec. 9 when Bay Area native Devin Haney squares off against Regis Prograis at Chase Center.
Boxing promoters have glossed over San Francisco as a host city since cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York traditionally host big fights. San Francisco's appetite for boxing is relatively unknown. However, ticket sales for the WBC super lightweight world championship seem to reveal some answers about the city's interest in the sport.
Tickets for the Haney-Prograis fight have sold out, event promoter Matchroom Boxing confirmed to KRON4. To accommodate the demand, Matchroom said this week it has opened up seats in the upper nosebleed sections of the arena.
Initially, when tickets went on sale in October, Matchroom had planned to fill seats up to only across the lower bowl of Chase Center, which will host its first boxing event since opening in 2019. About 9,000 tickets were sold within the first week they were on sale, according to Matchroom Chairman Eddie Hearn.
According to Matchroom, capacity for fight night will be 16,000 -- just short of the 18,064-capacity crowd for Warriors games. However, that number was provided to KRON4 in November before the upper sections were opened up. KRON4 requested Matchroom to provide the number of where ticket sales currently stand and what the capacity will be at fight night. We are waiting to hear back.
As of Wednesday afternoon, here is a look at where ticket sales look on Ticketmaster's website. Outside of the newly-opened upper sections 217-225, most of the available tickets have been sold.
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Weigh-In Open To Public
The ceremonial weigh-in before Saturday's fight will take place on Friday at 1 p.m. at the Chase Center. It is free and open to the public, but you must register by clicking here.
The weight limit for this championship bout is a strict 140 pounds. Both fighters must weigh under the weight limit. In his last fight in May, Haney was fined $25,000 for shoving his opponent during the weigh-in.
Throughout boxing history, there have been instances in which a fight is called off due to a fight not making weight. If a fighter fails to make weight, the fight can still proceed, but said fighter will not be eligible to win the title.
Fight Background
Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) is coming back to the Bay Area for his first fight in his hometown since turning pro in 2015. Haney, 25, was born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland.
Haney is moving up a weight class to challenge Prograis for his WBC 140-lb title. Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) last fought in June in his hometown of New Orleans where he recorded a split-decision win over Danielito Zorrilla to successfully defend his title.
Prograis, 34, has knocked out four of his last five opponents since his first and only loss against then-undefeated Josh Taylor in 2019.
Haney is coming off a career win in May over two-time Olympic gold medalist Vasiliy Lomachenko. In the victory, Haney successfully defended his undisputed lightweight (135 lbs) championship. He became the youngest undisputed champion (23) in the four-belt era after defeating George Kambosos Jr. in June 2022. Last week, the Oakland native vacated all four of his belts and is no longer a champion at lightweight.