Boxing: Haney to Top 10 P4P, Benavidez Ascends and Canelo Out of Ranking

Devin Haney Returns to the Top 10 of World Boxing

Devin Haney has made an impressive return to the top 10 of the pound-for-pound best boxers ranking, according to our experts’ assessment. This achievement marks his re-entry to the list after 20 months, following his unanimous decision victory over Brian Norman Jr. last Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he conquered the WBO welterweight title.

Following the majority decision defeat against Ryan Garcia in April 2024, a result that later became a “no decision” due to a positive doping test for Garcia, Haney had fallen out of the top ten. During that fight, Haney suffered three knockdowns, but despite the result modification, he had not managed to re-enter the list until now.

“In 2024, I lost everything, everything collapsed on me. In 2025, I came to get it back. In 2026, I’m going for everything,” Haney declared after his recent victory.

Devin Haney

Haney now holds the tenth position, displacing Canelo Álvarez.

David Benavidez and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez Also Headline the List

In the main event of Saturday’s card, David Benavidez defended his WBC and WBA super-middleweight titles with an outstanding performance against Anthony Yarde, achieving a technical knockout in the seventh round. This victory allowed Benavidez to move up one place, ranking seventh.

“I rate my performance a B+. I could have done some things better, but there’s always room for improvement. People wanted to see the knockout. They said I didn’t have power at 175 pounds, but I made it look easy,” Benavidez commented.

David Benavidez

Additionally, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez unified three super flyweight titles by defeating Fernando Martinez in the tenth round, maintaining his position at number five on the list.

Ranking of the Best Pound-for-Pound Boxers

The Alofoke Deportes expert panel, comprised of Andreas Hale, Timothy Bradley Jr., Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Eric Raskin, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Bernardo Pilatti, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro, Aladdin Freeman, Victor Lopez, and Damian Delgado Averhoff, shared their votes to form the ranking.

Here’s the ranking of the best pound-for-pound boxers:

• 1. TERENCE CRAWFORD
• 2. OLEKSANDR USYK
• 3. NAOYA INOUE
• 4. DMITRY BIVOL
• 5. JESSE RODRIGUEZ
• 6. ARTUR BETERBIEV
• 7. DAVID BENAVIDEZ
• 8. SHAKUR STEVENSON
• 9. JUNTO NAKATANI
• 10. DEVIN HANEY

The results are up to November 26th.

1. TERENCE CRAWFORD
Record: 42-0, 31 KOs
Division: Super Middleweight (Undisputed Champion)
Last fight: Victory (UD12) against Canelo Álvarez, September 13th
Next fight: To be confirmed
Crawford showed his brilliance by defeating Canelo and becoming the undisputed super middleweight champion.

2. OLEKSANDR USYK
Record: 24-0, 15 KOs
Division: Heavyweight (unified champion)
Last fight: Victory (KO5) against Daniel Dubois, July 19th
Next fight: To be confirmed
Usyk consolidates himself as one of the best heavyweights, with a decisive victory over Dubois.

3. NAOYA INOUE
Record: 31-0, 27 KOs
Division: Super bantamweight (undisputed champion)
Last fight: Victory (UD12) against Murodjon Akhmadaliev, September 14th
Next fight: December 27th against David Picasso
Inoue continues to show his excellence in the ring, dominating Akhmadaliev.

4. DMITRY BIVOL
Record: 24-1, 12 KOs
Division: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
Last fight: Victory (UD12) against Artur Beterbiev, February 22nd
Next fight: To be confirmed
Bivol proved his worth by defeating Beterbiev.

5. JESSE RODRIGUEZ
Record: 23-0, 16 KOs
Division: Super flyweight (unified champion)
Last fight: Victory (KO10) against Fernando Martinez, November 22nd
Next fight: To be confirmed
“Bam” Rodriguez secured the victory in a dominant manner against Martinez.

6. ARTUR BETERBIEV
Record: 21-1, 20 KOs
Division: Light heavyweight
Last fight: Loss (UD12) against Dmitry Bivol, February 22
Next fight: To be confirmed
Beterbiev suffered his only professional loss in the rematch against Bivol.

7. DAVID BENAVIDEZ
Record: 31-0, 25 KOs
Division: Super Middleweight (champion)
Last fight: Victory (KOT7) against Anthony Yarde, November 22nd
Next fight: May 2nd against Gilberto Ramirez
Benavidez showed his power by defeating Yarde and aims to become a champion in three divisions.

8. SHAKUR STEVENSON
Record: 24-0, 11 KOs
Division: Lightweight (champion)
Last fight: Victory (UD12) against William Zepeda, July 12th
Next fight: To be confirmed
Stevenson dominated Zepeda, demonstrating his skill.

9. JUNTO NAKATANI
Record: 31-0, 24 KOs
Division: Bantamweight (unified champion)
Last fight: Victory (KOT6) against Ryosuke Nishida, June 8th
Next fight: December 27th against Sebastian Hernandez Reyes
Nakatani is on his way to face Inoue in a historic fight.

10. DEVIN HANEY
Record: 33-0 1NC, 15 KOs
Division: Welterweight Champion
Last fight: Victory (UD12) against Brian Norman Jr., November 22nd
Next fight: To be confirmed
Haney proved his worth by defeating Norman and joins the ranking with his impressive skillset.