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Boxing pound-for-pound rankings: Gervonta 'Tank' Davis rolls into Top 10

kevin iole
Senior boxing/MMA columnist
·3 min read
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 22: Gervonta Davis in the green and purple trunks reacts after defeating Ryan Garcia in the black trunks by knockout in the seventh round during their catchweight bout at T-Mobile Arena on April 22, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Gervonta Davis proved he's one of the best boxers in the world with his seventh-round KO of Ryan Garcia on Saturday. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Gervonta Davis was hanging on the periphery of the Yahoo Sports pound-for-pound ranking of the world’s best boxers for a while now. He kind of fell into that 8-to-12 range where, depending what someone did, he might break through into the Top 10 or he might just miss.

After his veteran, smooth performance in a seventh-round KO of Ryan Garcia in their lightweight bout on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Davis proved himself worthy of a slot in the Top 10.

Welterweight Errol Spence Jr., who had been No. 5, made it easy for Davis to join the Top 10 because Spence has now been inactive for more than 12 months and does not have a fight scheduled. Thus, he’ll drop out until he fights again and Davis will replace him.

Where Davis goes, though, is the question I had to wrestle with when putting the list together. I think Shakur Stevenson is a wonderful boxer with great all-around skills and is the kind of guy who can not only be in the pound-for-pound list for a long time, but be at the top of it. So I couldn’t put Davis ahead of Stevenson.

Stevenson was sixth, but he’ll move up a slot to five to take Spence’s spot. I had Devin Haney, the undisputed lightweight champion, a spot behind Stevenson at No. 7 previously. This, though, made me think of Davis.

Haney, who fights Vasiliy Lomachenko on May 20, hasn’t had the competition level that Davis has faced. And so I think Davis slots in at No. 6, one spot behind Stevenson and one ahead of Haney in the rankings.

The lightweight division is stacked with elite talent and there are going to be fights made between all of these stars, so it’s not only something to look forward to in the short-term future, but it’s a sign of what to come. These are the guys who will carry boxing for the next three-to-five years, if not longer.

Boxing pound-for-pound rankings as of April 24

  1. Terence Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs), WBO welterweight champion. Previous Ranking: 1

  2. Naoya Inoue (24-0, 21 KOs), Undisputed bantamweight champion. Previous Ranking: 2

  3. Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs), IBF-WBA-WBO heavyweight champion. Previous Ranking: 3

  4. Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs), Undisputed super middleweight champion. Previous Ranking: 4

  5. Shakur Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs), Lightweight contender. Previous Ranking: 6

  6. Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs), Secondary WBA lightweight champion. Previous ranking: NR

  7. Devin Haney (29-0, 15 KOs), Undisputed lightweight champion. Previous Ranking: 7

  8. Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs), WBC heavyweight champion. Previous Ranking: 8

  9. Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs), WBA light heavyweight champion. Previous Ranking: 9

  10. Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs), IBF-WBC-WBO light heavyweight champion. Previous ranking: 10

Dropped out: Errol Spence Jr., previously No. 5, for inactivity.