Ryan Garcia ripped his way into the Pound for Pound Top 10 following his spectacular performance against Devin Haney.
“KingRy” sat Haney, the former P4P number five, down three times to not only break down the door but obliterate it. Garcia enters the Pound for Pound picture at number ten, having previously lost his place in the WBN P4P Top 50 when stopped by Gervonta Davis a year ago.
Garcia has the boxing world in the palm of his hand, having hoodwinked everybody pre-fight into thinking he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Whatever was going on outside the ropes, Garcia looked like a king inside it as he enhanced his reputation further.
WBN P4P Top 50 – April 2024
Pound for Pound Rankings
| 1 | Naoya INOUE |
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| 2 | Terence CRAWFORD |
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| 3 | Oleksandr USYK |
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| 4 | CANELO Alvarez |
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| 5 | Dmitry BIVOL |
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| 6 | Vasiliy LOMACHENKO | |
| 7 | Shakur STEVENSON |
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| 8 | Gervonta DAVIS |
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| 9 | Artur BETERBIEV |
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| 10 | Ryan GARCIA | |
| 11 | Kazuto IOKA |
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| 12 | Junto NAKATANI |
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| 13 | Kosei TANAKA |
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| 14 | Juan ESTRADA |
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| 15 | Devin HANEY |
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| 16 | Jesse RODRIGUEZ | |
| 17 | Emauel NAVARRETE |
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| 18 | David BENAVIDEZ | |
| 19 | Jermell CHARLO |
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| 20 | Teofimo LOPEZ |
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| 21 | Kenshiro TERAJI |
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| 22 | Janibek ALIMKHANULY |
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| 23 | Tyson FURY |
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| 24 | Sebastian FUNDORA |
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| 25 | Anthony JOSHUA | |
| 26 | Jermall CHARLO |
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| 27 | Subriel MATIAS |
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| 28 | O'Shaquie FOSTER |
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| 29 | Jaime MUNGUIA | |
| 30 | Takuma INOUE |
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| 31 | Knockout CP FRESHMART |
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| 32 | Gilberto RAMIREZ |
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| 33 | Jai OPETAIA |
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| 34 | Fernando MARTINEZ |
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| 35 | Jaron ENNIS |
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| 36 | Erislandy LARA |
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| 37 | Brandon FIGUEROA | |
| 38 | Rafael ESPINOZA |
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| 38 | Isaac CRUZ |
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| 40 | Adrien BRONER | |
| 41 | Jose RAMIREZ | |
| 42 | Tim TSZYU | |
| 43 | Chris EUBANK JR | |
| 44 | Giovani SANTILLAN | |
| 45 | Stephen FULTON JR | |
| 46 | Marlon TAPALES | |
| 47 | Luis NERY | |
| 48 | Joseph PARKER | |
| 49 | Israil MADRIMOV |
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| 50 | Joe CORDINA |
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A beaming promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, knowing he got one of the hottest properties in the sport in his stable, added his thoughts to Garcia dropping Haney three times and carding a majority verdict in Brooklyn, New York.
“Ryan just shocked the world. He proved once, and for all that, he is the face of boxing and a pound-for-pound athlete in our sport.
“Despite all the talk from armchair psychologists and so-called boxing pundits, Ryan clearly had a plan and executed it.
“Now he [Garcia] is the man, now he’s the face of boxing.”
CompuBox crunched the numbers on Haney vs Garcia, which saw the eventual victor use his excessive power to keep “The Dream” at bay.
“Garcia’s power was tremendous, as he dropped Haney three times and outlanded Haney nearly 2-1 in power shots. Garcia landed 41% of his power punches after Haney’s previous ten opponents landed 25%.
“Haney landed just 7 of 18 punches per round after landing 13 of 42 in his previous ten fights,” they pointed out.
Despite the loss, Haney drops to 15 on the list after enjoying a stellar career to this point. He can come again after World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed he retains his WBC super lightweight champion status.
“Congratulations to Ryan Garcia for defying all obstacles and winning a huge fight. Congratulations to Devin Haney for showing his huge heart and class.
“Just as in Corrales vs Castillo 2, with the challenger not making weight, Haney remains the WBC champion,” stated Sulaiman.
When accused of ‘changing the rules,’ as many thought the title became vacant, Sulaiman added: How about you learning the rules? They are public and have always been.
“Castillo didn’t make weight vs. Castillo II; Corrales remained champion, ” the WBC figurehead pointed out.
A rematch between Garcia and Haney is the next logical fight. However, Haney keeping his belt does change the landscape slightly. A mandatory win over Sandor Martin next could lead Haney into unification and a further bid to become undisputed at 140. The rematch will always be there in the future, as Garcia admitted he can no longer boil down to the super lightweight limit.
Haney is still young, as is Garcia, so letting a second fight marinate for another two years wouldn’t hurt in the current climate.
Garcia has several options open to him at 147 pounds, with Terence Crawford‘s remaining titles set to become vacant in the coming months.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
