P4P Top 10: Haney tumbles out, top stars take spotlight in May

May 2024

The voters: Scott Christ, Wil Esco, John Hansen, Patrick Stumberg, and Lewis Watson

Others Receiving Votes: Jaron “Boots” Ennis 5, Gervonta “Tank” Davis 2, Subriel Matias 1

(Editor’s Note: We’re leaving the comments as originally submitted, though there may be some different attitude toward the Haney vs Garcia result after Garcia’s failed drug test.)

Scott Christ

(1) Naoya Inoue, (2) Terence Crawford, (3) Oleksandr Usyk, (4) Dmitry Bivol, (5) Artur Beterbiev, (6) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, (7) Junto Nakatani, (8) Kenshiro Teraji, (9) Canelo Alvarez, (10) David Benavidez

Obviously, Devin Haney has to go. I’ve got David Benavidez in now. Nobody is some incredibly clear choice, which is always the case with the back end.

We’ll see Canelo, Inoue, Usyk (and Fury!) in action this month, and Bivol vs Beterbiev will kick off June, when Tank Davis, David Benavidez, and Bam Rodriguez are all scheduled to fight, too. The next two months could see some shake-ups.

Wil Esco

(1) Terence Crawford, (2) Naoya Inoue, (3) Oleksandr Usyk, (4) Dmitry Bivol, (5) Artur Beterbiev, (6) Jaron “Boots” Ennis, (7) Canelo Alvarez, (8) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, (9) Kenshiro Teraji, (10) Junto Nakatani

After Ryan Garcia finished smoking on that Haney pack, Devin’s officially out of the P4P. That makes space for Junto Nakatani on my list. And soon either Dmitry Bivol or Artur Beterbiev will have lost, establishing them as the new hot garbage. They too will be thrown off the list, because that’s how boxing works. Check back soon.

John Hansen

(1) Naoya Inoue, (2) Terence Crawford, (3) Oleksandr Usyk, (4) Dmitry Bivol, (5) Artur Beterbiev, (6) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, (7) Kenshiro Teraji, (8) David Benavidez, (9) Junto Nakatani, (10) Subriel Matias

Haney exits, almost certainly never to return. I look forward to forgetting I ever had him ranked, and denying it with passion and sincerity unless someone digs up the old rankings to prove it to me.

Picking a No. 10 to fill out the list was tough. Nobody fully and clearly deserves it, and anyone chosen could be nitpicked to death in comparison to five or six other equally good but flawed options. I thought about joining Team Esco and putting Boots Ennis in, since he’s undefeated, he passes the eye test, and he inadvertently cleared out welterweight by being the last top shelf talent hanging around there.

If I’m going with eye test and assumptions, though, I’ll go ahead and put Subriel Matias in at 10. The man is a terror, and no one in his weight class seems to want anything to do with him. He probably had a better argument than others I’ve ranked previously were it not for his relative inactivity. Yes, he lost one fight over four years ago, by the slimmest of margins. But, you can’t have a Top 10 without a 10th guy in it, and there aren’t 10 other fighters I think are better right now than Matias.

Patrick Stumberg

(1) Naoya Inoue, (2) Terence Crawford, (3) Oleksandr Usyk, (4) Canelo Alvarez, (5) Dmitry Bivol, (6) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, (7) Artur Beterbiev, (8) Junto Nakatani, (9) Kenshiro Teraji, (10) David Benavidez

I’m gonna run you through my thought process real quick.

• Devin Haney’s out for obvious reason and Ryan Garcia can’t take his place for equally obvious reasons.
• There are a few multi-division champions on the fringe of my list, but Kosei Tanaka got his latest title against a weak opponent, Kazuto Ioka and Juan Francisco Estrada have had rough close calls, and Emanuel Navarrete’s coming off a draw in a fight he should have won cleanly.
• I’m tempted to put guys who pass the eye test like Jaron Ennis or Subriel Matias in there, but they don’t have the big wins to justify it.

That just leaves a few options, and as far as who has both a strong track record and recent dominant wins amongst his peers, Benavidez fits the bill.

Lewis Watson

(1) Naoya Inoue, (2) Terence Crawford, (3) Oleksandr Usyk, (4) Artur Beterbiev, (5) Dmitry Bivol, (6) Canelo Alvarez, (7) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, (8) Kenshiro Teraji, (9) Gervonta “Tank” Davis, (10) David Benavidez

OK, OK — I’ll happily row back on my lofty Devin Haney ranking now. Although he didn’t exactly stink against Garcia, he didn’t display anything close to a P4P top fighter in a bout that was literally put on a plate for him to look good. Weight issues are genuine excuses that can’t be overshadowed now the dust has settled, but there are plenty of names worthy of a hop up in the rankings at his expense and sleep won’t be lost over the “Dream”.

Benavidez – and CV that speaks for itself – is the man to sneak into the top 10, with no changes elsewhere.