Can Davis, Garcia, Haney, Lopez and Stevenson define the 2020s the way Benitez, Duran, Hagler, Hearns and Leonard did the 1980s?

Fair enough, maybe my title is over-egging the pudding a little. If even one of today's young crop between 130 and 140 lb go on to achieve the heights that any of Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns or Ray Leonard managed then they'll be doing very well, and probably defying expectations.

Nevertheless, right now in or just either side of Lightweight we have a group of unbeaten, rising stars, four of which were born within just seventeen months of each other. There's a mix of styles and personalities amongst them, and though none of them have faced off yet, the collision courses which will hopefully result in a good number of fights between them all are starting to take shape.

With that in mind - could Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson be to this decade what the legends mentioned above were the the 1980s?

If you look at their respective ages - 26, 22, 22, 23 and 23 - there's reason to be cheerful that we could have a very interesting round robin of fights between this lot in the coming years, and surely nobody can say with any great confidence who will prove the cream of the crop just yet. The possibilities here are huge. Just as Benitez, having not fought Hagler, was the slight outlier of his time and not normally considered quite on the same level as the other 'Four Kings', I guess Davis could prove the outlier or square peg amonst the new crop, as he is a few years older and has already provisionally moved up to Light-Welter. But for the purpose of this article it made sense to include both Benitez and Davis, so Fab Fours are becoming Famous Fives for the time being.

God knows we need some new and hopefully enduring rivalries to emerge and breathe a bit of life into the divisions outside of Heavyweight at the moment. It's not often you get a crop of fighters emerging like this at a similar time, all with big backing, clear talent (albeit on different levels) and weighty expectations on their shoulders. The promoters involved should be rubbing their hands together at the proverbial gold mine which has formed here.

If they're going to be this decade's equivalent they'll have to get a move on - we're one and a half years into the decade and so far nary a fight between them. However it's looking like this will be remedied in the near future.

So what are people's thoughts on this next generation of potential stars and marquee rivalries? Will we get a plethora of fights to define the decade between them? Who will go the furthest? Who is your favourite amonst them? Any thoughts welcome.

Ta.

With the internet contenders are celebrities before they achieved anything so can’t you make more money or a very good living not fighting each other these days?

However, chuck in Prograis and Mikey Garcia and you could have a division/axis to rival the lightweights of the 1930’s. Well maybe not as good as that one and some of the names you mentioned could be hype jobs but at this present moment in time it looks a nice collection of talent

Boxing will shoot itself in the foot would be my guess and a classic era will fall by the wayside. The MO these days is one big fight, two if you have to then ride it with a series of B oppo and loads of youtube videos while waiting on another big fight that may never materialise

You know the real ones Prograis, Lopez, Mikey Garcia they never distance themselves from any fight. Tank Davis a good fighter too but gone ghost on Prograis is he big enough for 140 the top dogs? I could go on but I don’t want to open a can of worms. Nice article

Thanks Herman.

Yeah I have my doubts about Tank Davis. Obviously a thudding puncher who is going to trouble anyone in or around his weight class if he clocks them with something they don't see coming. But like you I'm not sure if he's going to be as effective at 140 with that style. Could be another Broner who gets exposed a bit when he can't simply rely on being the bigger guy after rehydrating and being able to overpower them without having to move his feet. His defence is all style with little substance and he's nowhere near as elusive as he tries to appear.

Prograis has been calling him out and saying he'd love to put a beating on Davis. We'll see. If he looks okay against Barrios then maybe that fight can be made, but if he struggles I wouldn't be all that surprised if they move him back down to 135. Either way Davis has been floating around at world title level taking care of B-Level fighters (admittedly impressively at times) for years, and it's about time he got put in there with a viable, prime and risky opponent.

The most likely first meeting between this lot seems to be either Haney against Lopez, or failing that Haney against Garcia. Arum said that once Haney had beaten Linares his top priority was making the Lopez fight. After his win over Lomachenko (who all these guys are happy to freeze out and pretend he no longer exists, much to my annoyance!) Lopez is obviously out in front of the rest of this group in terms of putting a marker down to really underline his class....But he was definitely the naturally bigger guy than Lomachenko and struggled in the second half of the fight, which might well be the reason he and Arum have poured cold water over the idea of a rematch. I'd probably have taken Lomachenko to reverse that defeat had it happened straight or soon after. But Lopez must have watched Haney get himself into trouble a couple of times against Linares and really fancy the job now.

I think Hearn might try to steer Haney towards Garcia instead, if Ryan can get his mental issues in check. I'm not sure about Garcia, to be honest - I thought he was looking quite average against Campbell before his power told in the end. The knockdown in that fight and the early rounds against Velez showed me that he's very open down his right hand side. Still looks a bit stiff and manufactured to me, especially early doors. I think that's the more winnable fight for Haney, plus it can be sold on the back of their 'bad blood' and their amateur history where Haney beat Ryan twice.

Haney and Stevenson look like they'll never fight as they are apparently good buddies....Yeah, that old chestnut! Although while Stevenson is obviously very slick and skilled (albeit a bit of a stinker unlikely to win over the casuals) he's actually got his work cut out at 130 before he goes near the guys a few pounds north of him. It looks as if Herring will be next - that's not going to be easy, and is a big step up. Outside of that, him and Valdez have been mentioning each other and each claiming they want the fight. Valdez was brilliant last time out against Berchelt and has raised his game dramatically under Reynoso. As sharp as Stevenson has looked so far, that would be a hell of a risk and a big challenge for him.

I could see Lopez/Haney if and I say if Lopez beats Kambosos

Shame Lopez/Kambosos has been postponed, was looking forward to that one. I like how George isn’t afraid of him, could be a nice little tear up

Oh dear Haney and Stevenson friends not that one again

Simple answer is no...They haven't got the personalities of the Fab four who spent much time off PPV on ABC.. NBC cultivating image and prowess...

Recall plenty of Hagler's defences against Hamsho and the like being mainstream.....even if delayed...

Titles also meant more back then....Two champions till 85...

I'm afraid only die hards are left and its a crying shame...When Hagler v Hearns appeared on PPV who would have thought Twelve loss Chisora would headline years later..

Boxing has killed itself and I can't see a way back for it and Hearn..Warren and the like are just as culpable as those across the Atlantic..

Couldn't give two craps about Haney sadly...and I loved Boxing for a long time.

Can't define anything if people don't care...Like Chris Dickerson winning the Olympia..

Prograis against Mikey Garcia is some fight there’s talk of that one which is great news. Both same size both got skills coming out their arses would get Mikey back on top or just keep the Prograis juggernaut steaming on.  Broner’s just playing he wants no smoke with Regis just like he didn’t with Keith

I’m sure Mikey would love a win over Regis and a period of dominance at 140 to cement his legacy and Regis staying put at 40 and on a mission for that rematch with a certain Mr Taylor

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Simple answer is no...They haven't got the personalities of the Fab four who spent much time off PPV on ABC.. NBC cultivating image and prowess...

Recall plenty of Hagler's defences against Hamsho and the like being mainstream.....even if delayed...

Titles also meant more back then....Two champions till 85...

I'm afraid only die hards are left and its a crying shame...When Hagler v Hearns appeared on PPV who would have thought Twelve loss Chisora would headline years later..

Boxing has killed itself and I can't see a way back for it and Hearn..Warren and the like are just as culpable as those across the Atlantic..

Couldn't give two craps about Haney sadly...and I loved Boxing for a long time.

Can't define anything if people don't care...Like Chris Dickerson winning the Olympia..

.......But apart from that, everything's alright Truss?

We'll see what impact Matchroom's switch to DAZN will have, I guess. Hearn's always played a very slick PR game and he was giving it the 'I'm on the side of the fans' stuff in the interview I saw a week or two back, saying the high numbers that Mayweather against Paul did should serve as a warning to the promoters that they need to start making better, more competitive fights between the leading names - because if networks see that clown shows like Mayweather-Paul are doing more buys than any of the fighters mentioned above defending their world titles, the networks are going to start demanding more of these said clown shows featuring e-celebs, MMA rejects etc.

All well and good, Eddie, but then I remember that he was involved in one such clown show with that KSI moron, and that this is also the man who brought us PPV extravaganzas such as Bellew-Cleverly II and Gavin-Brook. He's hinted heavily that he was essentially 'forced' into committing to so many PPVs due to Sky's model and that with DAZN he and other promoters involved will be able to bring us the kind of stacked cards Don King used to put on with Showtime back in the 1990s.

I'm sceptical on that front as I am with just about every promoter and platform, and as any realistic boxing fan should be, because it's a sport which just takes, takes, takes from the fans while only ever giving back the bare minimum.