By Adam Baskin: Following his contentious victory against Vasyl Lomachenko on Saturday night, Devin Haney has been ranked eighth on the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound rankings.
More shocking than the Ring Magazine’s choice to include Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) on the list following his contentious decision is the fact that they ranked him above Gervonta Davis, who many boxing fans currently consider to be the best boxer at 135 pounds. Just just wrong. Haney had previously grumbled about not being on the pound-for-pound list, and he erroneously believed that after defeating the 35-year-old Lomachenko, he would immediately go to the top slot. Unfortunately, Haney’s poor performance against Lomachenko eliminated any opportunity he could have had to claim the #1 spot on the pound-for-pound rankings. Even if you agree that Haney deserved to win, his effort against the considerably smaller opponent was not particularly impressive.
According to this writer, Haney needs to run it back with Lomachenko and defeat him without incident the following time if he wants to secure a top 10 ranking on the pound-for-pound rankings. Without completing that, Haney doesn’t belong on the list and has no business ranking above someone with Gervonta’s talent.
