Pound for Pound star Devin Haney got told, most probably tongue-in-cheek, to mail back his championship after dismissing the title.
Following the updating on the Ring Magazine Pound for Pound Rankings. which rightly saw Oleksandr Usyk placed belatedly as the number one, Haney aired his frustration.
“The youngest undisputed champ of the four-belt era and not on the Pound for Pound list is crazy,” said Haney. “Especially when guys who don’t even hold the Ring Magazine belt currently made the list.
“The Ring Magazine could keep their belt. You won’t see me with it before or after this fight!”
Dougie Fischer, Editor-in-Chief of the long-running magazine, replied: “Then mail it back to us, Champ.”
He added a reason why into the bargain.
“Seems to happen every time the P4P rankings are updated.”
Haney’s beef is justified, though. How he’s not rated in either the Ring list or the ESPN is a mystery. However, ESPN’s track record of placing ESPN televised fighters over others is a long-standing debate.
The Ring has Usyk at number one, the same as WBN. But they were late to the party. Ranking Usyk after he defeated someone he’d beaten in the previous fight seems strange.
Why wasn’t it done, as WBN did when Canelo lost to Dmitry Bivol?
Nonetheless, Usyk is there now, with the top two places identical to World Boxing News. ESPN writer Mike Coppinger had a hand in pushing Usyk up the ESPN list.
Usyk is fourth with ESPN, which is shocking considering 22 boxing personnel air their views to make it.
Below are all three lists to compare.
Ring Magazine Pound for Pound Top 10
1 Oleksandr Usyk
2 Naoya Inoue
3 Terence Crawford
4 Errol Spence Jr.
5 Canelo Alvarez
6 Vasiliy Lomachenko
7 Dmitry Bivol
8 Josh Taylor
9 Jermell Charlo
10Artur Beterbiev
World Boxing News Pound for Pound Top 10
1 Oleksandr USYK
2 Naoya INOUE
3 CANELO Alvarez
4 Errol SPENCE JR
5 Tyson FURY
6 Terence CRAWFORD
7 Dmitry BIVOL
8 Devin HANEY
Jermell CHARLO
10 Roman GONZALEZ
ESPN P4P Top 10
1. Terence CRAWFORD
2. Naoya INOUE
3. Errol SPENCE JR.
4. Oleksandr USYK
5. CANELO Alvarez
6. Tyson FURY
7. Artur BETERBIEV
8. Dmitry BIVOL
9. Vasiliy LOMACHENKO
10. Shakur STEVENSON
On putting Usyk at number four, Coppinger said that the top seven or eight are, “for the most part,” tied for first place.
“I probably undervalued Usyk following his win over AJ last September, but after the way he responded to adversity in Round ten, it’s impossible to deny Usyk’s greatness,” Coppinger stated
“The top seven or eight fighters on this list are interchangeable, for the most part. Some big fights this fall should go a long way toward creating separation.”
How Usyk can clean out the cruiserweight and almost the heavyweight division beating everyone away from home cannot be good enough for first place should be questioned.
It’s impossible to imagine what more Usyk would have to do for the coveted top spot.
He’s one hundred percent our number one and by some way at the moment.
The views expressed in this article are the opinions of Phil Jay.
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews and Twitter @worldboxingnews.
