By James Hicken

Copyright independent

At the beginning of the decade, four young, rising American fighters were picked out to be the next generation of superstars – following in the footsteps of the great ‘Four Kings’ – Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran.

Those men were Ryan Garcia, Gervonta Davis, Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney. At the time of their selection, all were unbeaten – Garcia had not yet been tested, but brought a massive social media following and had stopped all but three of his opponents.

Davis had just claimed a career-best win against Leo Santa Cruz to become the WBA super featherweight champion as he established himself as one of boxing’s biggest punchers.

Haney had become one of boxing’s youngest world champions, winning the WBC lightweight title at just 20 years old by beating Alfredo Santiago in 2019.

And Lopez had the biggest win of the lot, having just beaten an all-time great in Vasyl Lomachenko via unanimous decision to become the unified lightweight champion.

These four were selected to rule boxing for the next generation, holding world titles and giving the fans the most entertaining fights, reminiscent of that golden generation of the 1980s.

But where are they now, and have they delivered on the promise of another golden generation of elite world championship boxing? Or are we still waiting?

Since 2020, Garcia has experienced something of a career downturn. He claimed what is probably his career-best win over Luke Campbell in 2021, in a display of blistering power and hand speed to knock out the Olympic gold medallist with a body shot.

Garcia was the first, alongside Davis, to take the plunge and enter the ring with another of the superstars elect. In 2023, the two squared off at a 136lb catchweight in what was one of the most financially successful fights of all time.

Davis proved too skilful against a weight-drained Garcia and after dropping him in the second round with a stunning counter left hand, Davis finished the job in the seventh with a body shot.

A period of turmoil followed for Garcia, who publicly struggled with his mental health, before fighting another of the next generation in Devin Haney, and claimed what was initially a fantastic points win after knocking down his rival three times. But the win was expunged due to a failed drug test from Garcia and Haney regained his ‘0’.

He made his ill-fated return on The Ring’s Times Square card in May and lost to old rival Rolando Romero in one of the upsets of the year – getting dropped in the second round on the way to a lopsided points defeat.

Injury has plagued the American since; he is currently recovering from surgery on his hand and has been actively pursuing a rematch with Romero, while also calling out Manny Pacquiao.

Although it has not all gone Garcia’s way so far and he is yet to win a world title, credit must be given to him for being willing to give the fans the big fights they want – taking on two of his fellow ‘Next Four Kings’.

After beating Santa Cruz, it looked as though Davis was destined to become the next face of boxing, stringing together an impressive string of wins against Mario Barrios, Issac Cruz and Garcia.

Davis clearly had the power and the talent to dominate at 135lbs, but never seemed willing to attempt any unification bouts as he was happy to stay as the WBA lightweight champion.

After knocking out Frank Martin in a fight that didn’t exactly set the world alight, he took another less than enticing fight against Lamont Roach earlier this year.

There had been concerns heading into the fight over Davis’s love for the sport fading, and his performance against Roach only fanned those flames.

Davis spent more time taunting Roach than actually landing shots, and narrowly avoided losing the fight after he took a knee in the ninth round, claiming his vision was obscured by product used in his hair.

It was judged after the fight that it should have been counted as a knockdown but this could not be changed in retrospect, and Davis left with a fortunate draw and a contractual obligation to have a rematch with Roach.

Davis has since been embroiled in legal issues and following two failed attempts to make the rematch, he surprised the world and accepted an exhibition bout with the controversial Jake Paul that will take place on November 14 in Miami.

After looking like he was on track to pay back the hype from the boxing world with interest, Davis’ shine has worn off after some lacklustre performances and choosing to take an exhibition fight against Paul rather than pursuing the greatness he is more than capable of.

But he remains the only one of the ‘Next Four Kings’ to claim a victory over one of the others and is a two-weight world champion.

Since producing one of the biggest upsets of the decade when he toppled the almost invincible Lomachenko, Lopez’s career has been let down my inconsistency.

The only tangible hitch so far is his equally as surprising defeat by George Kambosos immediately after the Lomachenko fight.

This loss forced Lopez to reassess his options, and he chose to make a move into the super lightweight division.

He claimed a win more like the Lopez we know against Pedro Campa, stopping him in the sixth round. But once again, Lopez could not put together two equally impressive performances, squeaking past an over-the-hill Sandor Martin via split decision.

Lopez, in his next fight, registered a sensational victory over former undisputed champion, Josh Taylor, as he cruised to a unanimous decision to become WBO super lightweight champion, which demonstrated the raw talent and potential Lopez possesses, but fails to unlock regularly.

Lopez’s last fight was the highlight of a disappointing card at Times Square that also featured Haney and Garcia. He effortlessly outclassed Arnold Barboza over 12 rounds, displaying masterful counterpunching and variation.

Since beating Barboza, Lopez has been rumoured to fight some big names. Initially, it was Jaron Ennis at welterweight, but more recently, he has been linked to fighting Shakur Stevenson, who has been dubbed the ‘Fifth King’ in some quarters, in early 2026.

Lopez is one of two reigning world champions in the ‘Four Kings’ group, a lineal champion in two weight divisions and looks best positioned to realise his potential sooner rather later – provided he can find the consistency he desperately needs.

When these four fighters were grouped, Haney was seen as having the highest ceiling after becoming a world champion at only 20 years old. He did well to carry this momentum until recently.

After a few impressive defences of his title, he took a career-defining fight against George Kambosos for the undisputed lightweight titles.

Haney put on a boxing clinic not once, but twice against Kambosos, showing incredible composure and boxing IQ to become the youngest undisputed champion in the four-belt era.

He then took the biggest possible fight on the table for him against Lomachenko to cement himself as the very best of the division and a pound-for-pound star in 2023.

The fight was extremely close, and Haney used his size and reach advantage to clutch a somewhat controversial unanimous decision. Some thought Lomachenko had done enough to win the fight, but Haney had done enough in the eyes of the only people that matter to win the fight.

Becoming a two-weight world champion was next, and Haney took on the incumbent WBC super lightweight champion Regis Prograis, winning every round on all three judges’ scorecards, inclusive of a third-round knockdown.

It was all going perfectly for Haney until he opted to take on Ryan Garcia last year, trying to put to bed what had been an intense rivalry since both men entered the professional ranks.

But the wheels fell off for Haney, who survived three knockdowns but lost the fight at the time. Garcia’s win, as aforementioned, was overturned, but the effects on Haney’s confidence from the physical beating he took were obvious to see in his next fight.

Haney took a year out of the sport to reconfigure himself and forfeited his super lightweight title. ‘The Dream’ next stepped into the ring against Jose Ramirez and, for all 12 rounds, looked uncomfortable and unwilling to exchange, landing what was at the time a record low in punches for a 12-round fight.

Haney is now throwing himself into a risky fight next, looking to regain a version of the welterweight titles from the WBO champion Brian Norman Jr, who is an extremely dangerous fighter.

Respect must go to Haney for taking this opportunity, and if he beats the odds and defeats Norman Jr, he will have jump-started a career that has begun to stall.

If you had asked how well Haney was doing in fulfilling his potential two years ago, the answer would have been definitive in that he was well on his way. But it has been a difficult last 18 months for Haney, and his do-or-die fight with Norman Jr will go a long way to determining how much left he has to offer at the highest level.

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