Gervonta Davis has fallen from the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound rankings following his contentious clash with Lamont Roach.
Davis retained his WBA lightweight title after boxing to a majority draw against Roach on March 1.
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One judge scored the fight 115-113 for Davis, while the other two had it 114-114 even.
Yet Roach would have got his hand raised had referee Steve Willis scored a clear knockdown in the ninth stanza.
Midway through the round, Davis was caught with a grazing jab that appeared to compromise his vision.
Davis then took a voluntary knee before walking over his corner to have debris wiped from his eye, which he later revealed was grease from his hair.
Willis initially administered a count before bizarrely breaking it off and allowing the action to resume.
A 10-8 round in the ninth would have swayed the scorecards in Roach’s favour, leading to calls for the fight to be overturned.
The New York State Athletic Commission have since chosen to uphold the result after undergoing an investigation into the incident.
As a result, Davis has kept hold of his WBA strap, but the same can’t be said for his pound-for-pound spot.
‘Tank’ had been ranked No.8 in the ratings before Monday when they were updated.
David Benavidez has taken his place in the top 10, with Devin Haney and Junto Nakatani also jumping up one place thanks to Davis’ exclusion.
Ring Magazine pound-for-pound March ratings
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Naoya Inoue
- Terence Crawford
- Dmitry Bivol
- Artur Beterbiev
- Jesse Rodriguez
- Canelo Alvarez
- Junto Nakatani
- Devin Haney
- David Benavidez
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The rest of the list remains unchanged with Oleksandr Usyk maintaining his top spot ahead of Naoya Inoue and Terence Crawford.
Benavidez (30-0) is a former two-time WBC super middleweight champion and current WBC ‘interim’ light heavyweight title holder.
The WBC recently ordered undisputed 175lbs king Dmitry Bivol to defend his belts against Benavidez this year after avenging his defeat to Artur Beterbiev in February.
They are now reportedly closing in on a deal with Bivol’s promoter Matchroom Boxing and Benavidez’s representatives Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), said to be finalising terms.
If Benavidez can dethrone Bivol then he is very likely to enter the pound-for-pound top five, where the Russian currently sits at No.4.
