Who is boxing’s next transcendent superstar?
With monster viewership, record-breaking gates and global appeal, it’s crystal clear that the sport is in a great place halfway through 2022 with no shortage of high wattage stars.
And while names like Tyson Fury, Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford, Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk continue to headline marquee spectacles even as they approach the back end of their careers, the future of the sport is in good hands with the next generation jockeying to become the sport’s next big superstar. 
It’s a tried-and-true cycle.
Jack Johnson gave way to Henry Armstrong, who was followed by Joe Louis. Louis was followed by Sugar Ray Robinson, who saw Muhammad Ali become “The Greatest.” Ali’s greatness opened the door for Sugar Ray Leonard, who was followed by the lightning rod known as Mike Tyson. Oscar De La Hoya ran with the torch until Floyd Mayweather snatched it from him. Currently, Canelo Alvarez shoulders the burden of carrying the sport into the next era despite a recent loss to Dmitry Bivol that has the next wave ready to take over as the face of boxing.
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For all the names mentioned, they were part of a pack of fighters who surrounded those names and fought tooth and nail to stake their claim at greatness. The rising tide lifts all boats and 2022 finds yet another youth movement, where its members are positioning themselves to sit on boxing’s proverbial throne.
Not all will come close to achieving the greatness of Ali, Mayweather and Robinson. But the beauty is in watching the new breed fight their way to the top.With that comes The Sporting News’ inaugural 25 under 25 annual list, where we rank boxing’s brightest stars under the age of 25. This list will bring about much debate. It also serves as a guide for who to watch over the next 12 months, to see where they rank in 2023.
*must be under 25 as of June 1, 2022* 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: Being the grandson of Muhammad Ali comes with all sorts of expectations. For Nico Ali Walsh, every time he steps in the ring he puts his name on the line. Walsh is still in the development stage of his career, and has not been truly tested yet. Expectations are extremely high, but his ceiling as of now is low. Within the next two years, we may very well be having a different conversation. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: “White Chocolate” is a former Jr. Golden Gloves National Champion who made his pro debut in 2018. Since then, he has won six of his eleven fights via knockout. Ababiy has been challenging himself in his last three fights, going the distance in each of them. One of Eddie Hearn’s first U.S. signings, Ababiy has been training with the likes of Jake Paul and Chris Colbert. If he competes in more fights, Ababiy has a chance to show his potential to everyone in the boxing community. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: A 2017 ABA Championships winner, Scotney has become a force to be reckoned with in just a short period of time. Her skills have grown since her debut, as seen by her win against Roman. She recently called out IBF bantamweight champion Ebanie Bridges. Is a fight like that too early for Scotney? She doesn’t believe so. If she manages to get the fight with Bridges and wins, Scotney’s rise will be considered extraordinary. She is one of the top female fighters to keep an eye on. 
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Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: Working with Devin Haney’s team, Jones continues to grow within the world of boxing. A Bay Area kid, Jones is still adapting to the professional level. Whether he moves divisions or not, Jones has power and the skills to prove he can belong. The next three years for him will be crucial for his development. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: A silver medalist in the 2020 Olympics, Ragan made his debut that year. He won three fights in 2020, going the distance in two. That showed how he still needs to develop while also displaying his toughness. He has already fought twice in 2022, and doesn’t appear to be done yet. 
Honoring his father who died of COVID-19, Ragan is determined to make an impact. There is a lot of promise in the young fighter, who is not afraid to put in the work in order to show what he is capable of. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: A Youth World Championships gold medalist, Castro won 177 amateur bouts before turning pro in 2020. In just a short period of time, Castro has had to overcome adversity, doing so against Julio Madera. With five wins via some form of knockout, Castro’s ceiling is high. His development, like most young prospects, will be something to monitor. 
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Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: A Dominican-born fighter, “La Zarza” has 14 wins via knockout. Recently, he has honored Muhammad Ali in his fights. Rivera once stated he wanted to be nicknamed “Ali” due to those around him seeing a resemblance when it comes to his ability. Will that be the case? Only time can tell, but the orthodox fighter is making a claim for one of the top all-around fighters in the lightweight division. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: The owner of eight National Championships, Pacheco has been boxing since he was nine years old. Big for his size, Pacheco appears ahead of schedule when it comes to his development. A power fighter, Pacheco has eleven wins via knockout, a knockout percentage of 78.57%. 
Relatively small (6-4) in the super-middleweight division, Pacheco has made up for it with his power and speed. He is on his way to becoming a true player in the division. All that matters is when the trigger will be pulled for him to face an increase in competition. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: The southpaw, who won the Youth National Championships in 2016, has progressed far beyond what many predicted he would do. The Cuban fighter, who had over 130 wins at the amateur level, won the then-interim WBA super-middleweight title in his third career fight. With six wins via knockout, Morrell is just getting started. 
Even in just a short time in the ring, Morrell may have what it takes to fight one of the top fighters within super-middleweight now, not later. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: Competing in the 2016 Olympics, Conwell turned pro a year later. While he has not gone past ten rounds (only going the distance in a ten-round fight once), Conwell makes up for it with his twelve wins via some form of knockout. 
Conwell is most known for knocking out Patrick Day, in a fight which resulted in the unfortunate death of Day. Since then, Conwell has been honoring his memory each and every time he steps foot in the ring. Conwell has power and patience. If everything holds itself together, Conwell’s chances at a title opportunity are high. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: After winning silver in the 2020 Olympics, Davis signed with Top Rank and made his debut in February 2021. A prospect with solid speed and power, the Davis signing was compared to hitting the jackpot. He is proving his value so far thanks to four wins via some form of knockout. As he continues to develop, Davis will be tested, and based on past performances, he has the capabilities to pass all of them. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: The Ring Magazine’s Prospect of the Year, Lee burst onto the scene in 2017 following four Junior Golden Gloves Championships. With an amateur record of 181-9, Lee came into the sport with a lot of momentum. It has carried over thanks to 22 of 25 of his wins being via some form of knockout. 
Stephen Espinoza gave Lee the ultimate form of good faith by matching him up against Zachary Ochoa on the Errol Spence Jr. vs. Yordenis Ugas undercard. He passed with flying colors. Lee proved he can become a true force in a crowded division. 
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Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: At around 6-5, Fundora, named “The Towering Tornado,” is as dangerous as they come. With 13 wins via knockout, Fundora can punish an opponent from any angle. Fundora is already making waves, beating Erickson Lubin for the interim WBC super-welterweight title. A rocket will be strapped on his long back towards superstardom if he continues to win. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: A two-time USA Boxing National Champion, Zayas signed with Top Rank at 16, resulting in high expectations. At 19, he has already won twelve fights, nine of them via knockout.
Zayas has shown early that he has what it takes to be a star. Four of his last five fights have not made it past the fifth round. Now that he has passed the sixth-round challenge, Top Rank will do whatever it takes to elevate his status. We could see him competing in full-round fights by the end of 2022. Zayas has an opportunity to compete in a number of weight classes due to his large frame, making him a legitimate threat within the sport.  
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: Deontay Wilder is known for his knockout power. At 22, Jared Anderson can become the next version of Wilder, thanks in part to his 100% knockout-to-win ratio. A two-time U.S. National Champion, “Big Baby” has steamrolled his way past the competition on his way to become The World’s Most Dangerous Man. 
Anderson won four fights in 2021. The only time he has been tested was against Kingsley Ibeh, where Anderson went six rounds and still beat him via TKO. Outside of that, no other fight he has been in has made it past the fourth round. How respected is Anderson? WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury spars with him. Down the line, Anderson may be the one holding world title gold around his waist.  
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Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: Fight fans know of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Daniel Dubois is another British heavyweight that is highly regarded thanks in large part due to his knockout power. With 17 wins, 16 have come via knockout. One of the biggest tests of his career was against Joe Joyce, but he lost via knockout when his eye was swollen shut. In his next fight, he took down the dangerous Bogdan Dinu for the interim WBA heavyweight title.
“Dynamite” has improved since his lone loss and even made his U.S. debut not long ago. As a member of boxing’s youth movement, Dubois has a chance to spice things up at heavyweight, and it may not be long until he is at the top of the mountain. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: Making his pro debut in 2015, Nakatani has dominated the flyweight division, with 18 of his 23 wins coming by way of some form of knockout. A fighter with a nasty left hand, Nakatani took out Giemel Magramo to win the WBC flyweight title. He made his U.S. debut in September 2021, beating Angel Acosta in the fourth round to retain the title. 
Nakatani has become a dangerous fighter at flyweight, and it appears as though there is no ceiling holding him down. As he continues to grow and fight outside of Japan, the division will have a lot to worry about. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: A silver medalist in the Junior World Championships, “Bam” made his pro debut in 2017. With ten of his fifteen wins via knockout, Rodriguez has burst onto the scene in a major way. He proved that by stepping up to face Carlos Cuadras, who needed a replacement for his super-flyweight title fight. Not only did he pass with flying colors, he became a true name within the sport. Now, Rodriguez has a chance to hold his claim to the super-flyweight throne. 
Rodriguez is set to be tested further now that he is champion. Under a confident mindset, Rodriguez’s Cinderella Story may not be over just yet. The Sporting News believes he has what it takes to remain a constant threat in the division. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: Lara competed primarily in Mexico before facing the toughest test of his career in 2021. Taking on former IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington, Lara knocked him out in the ninth round. In a rematch, the fight turned into a draw when Lara couldn’t continue following an accidental clash of the heads.
Lara rebounded from the draw with a win over Emilio Sanchez. A trilogy fight against Warrington is bound to happen, and if Lara wins, that could cement him as a true problem in the featherweight division. Coming out of nowhere, Lara has turned into someone that many fighters should take seriously. Ranked seventh now, Lara’s potential could leave him well above that number in a year or two. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: The phrase “more than just a pretty face” applies to social media maven Ryan Garcia.
The handsome devil of the lightweight division has become a human highlight reel during his six-year professional career. His knockouts routinely go viral as wicked finishes of Romero Duno and Francisco Fonseca proved that Garcia’s timing, power, and speed are arguably unmatched in his weight class. 
Garcia also showed that he could dig himself out of a hole, as he survived a knockdown against Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell and roared back with a seventh-round knockout courtesy of a ruthless body shot.  
He’s teased retirement at the age of 26 but nobody believes Garcia considering that there are so many massive fights ahead. Not to mention his absurd social media following (8.8 million on Instagram) could be the bridge that brings boxing to a younger generation of fans. 
Garcia has a chance to be a true boxing great. Battling mental health issues and injuries have affected his career recently, and he just left the team of Canelo Alvarez and Eddy Reynoso. He can turn the adversity and distractions around with wins, which he did in his return fight against Emmanuel Tagoe. A social media star, he has called out the likes of Devin Haney and Gervonta Davis. Focusing on boxing can turn Garcia into a fighter that can be feared and loathed all at once. 
And that’s the mixture that separates stars from superstars. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: A Golden Gloves silver medalist in 2016, Ortiz made his pro debut that year. Since then, Ortiz has wrecked opponent after opponent with all 18 of his victories coming by way of knockout and not a single opponent lasting more than eight rounds.
The skeptics were curious how he’d deal with stiffer competition. Ortiz’s 2021 year silenced those who thought he had an inflated record. Ortiz first faced off against former champion Maurice Hooker, and essentially pummeled him from pillar to post before stopping the former champion in the seventh round. He followed that performance by dealing with his first taste of adversity against former welterweight title challenger Egidijus Kavaliauskas.
Ortiz overcame adversity for the first time in his career when Kavaliauskas hurt him in the second round. But Ortiz regrouped and put on a vicious pounding that saw him drop his opponent five times before the fight was mercifully called to a halt in the eighth round.
The power is undeniable and if he gets a chance to challenge one of the top fighters in the 147-pound division, we’ll find out just how good Vergil Ortiz really is. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: The emergence of “Boots” Ennis over the past few years has been phenomenal to witness. Boxing insiders already knew of the immense potential that Ennis harnessed but he was still unknown to the casual fan.  
Without an Olympic pedigree or a lauded amateur resume like some of his peers, the five-foot-ten Southpaw quietly began pounding out opponents with voracity. After a no-contest due to an accidental head clash against Chris van Heerden prevented him from his first major world title, Ennis went right back to work. He handed former title contender Sergey Lipinets the first knockout loss of his career in 2021.
“Boots” followed that performance by clobbering Thomas Dulorme in the first round later that year. And then Ennis put the cherry on top of his violent campaign by obliterating previously unbeaten Custio Clayton inside of two rounds in May 2022 to become the mandatory challenger to Errol Spence Jr’s IBF title.   
Only two of Ennis’ 29 opponents have made it to the final bell. And if you remove the no-contest to van Heerden, Ennis has recorded a remarkable 19 consecutive knockouts. 
The welterweight division is full of talent but there are few who have shown that they are remotely interested in fighting Ennis. Eventually, they will be forced to deal with him. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: The perfect combination of power, skill and charisma, Lopez stomped through the lightweight division with breathtaking knockouts and dominant performances. But it wasn’t until he bet on himself against Vasiliy Lomachenko that he made us all believers in “The Takeover.” 
After obliterating Richard Commey to become the IBF champion in 2019, Lopez set his sights on arguably the greatest amateur boxing to ever live in Lomachenko, who also held the WBA (Super), WBO and The Ring titles. It was assumed that Lomachenko’s otherworldly ability would be too much for the young fighter, but Lopez turned the boxing world on its head by boxing his way to a decision victory. 
The hype was real.
Unfortunately, things outside of the ring began to weigh Lopez down. A bout with COVID-19 and a relationship with Triller that soured left Lopez out of action for over a year. Upon his return, he would lose a close decision to George Kambosos Jr. in 2021. It was later revealed that COVID had badly compromised his health, which made the fact that he was competitive in his fight with Kambosos a revelation.  
He’ll make his debut at 140 pounds in August and target another takeover. The expectations remain high but he’ll have to deliver.    
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: Turning professional right after winning the silver medal in the 2016 Olympics, Shakur Stevenson was frustratingly overlooked when the discussion of boxing’s future was brought up.   
Initially placed behind Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, Teofimo Lopez, and Gervonta Davis, Stevenson took a show-and-prove approach and chopped down opponent after opponent with his scintillating speed, underrated power, and profound defensive abilities. He wasted little time trampling the competition by running roughshod over Joet Gonzalez to claim the vacant WBO featherweight title in 2019. But he put the boxing world on notice with a clinical dissection of Jamel Herring with a 10th round stoppage to win the WBO super-featherweight championship. 
Rather than take a tuneup fight, Stevenson landed the fight he had been asking for against WBC titleholder Oscar Valdez, becoming the unified champion with a dominant outing that cemented his place as the future of the sport. 
What separates Stevenson from his peers is that his defense has been impenetrable. No opponent has come close to figuring out the puzzle that is Stevenson, and that lends itself to a long stay in boxing. Ask Floyd Mayweather how being a brilliant defensive fighter has worked out and you’ll understand why Stevenson may be topping boxing’s fictional pound-for-pound list sooner rather than later. 
Expectations & Why They Are On The 2022 List: Does Devin Haney have your respect now?
The 23-year-old became the first undisputed lightweight champion in the four-belt era by traveling to Australia and utterly dismantling George Kambosos. Over the past few years, Haney chased the biggest names in boxing despite being the WBC lightweight champion. He was called an “email champion” because he was only promoted after Vasiliy Lomachenko opted not to fight him. 
So Haney would spend 2021 beating up former champions Jojo Diaz and Jorge Linares while waiting to see if one of the bigger names would accept his challenge. The opportunity finally presented itself when Lomachenko had to pass on the Kambosos fight because he chose to stay in the Ukraine and defend his country against the Russian invasion. Haney conceded every possible advantage — money and location — to prove that he’s the best lightweight in the world and then he went to foreign soil to beat up the hometown hero. 
At 23 years of age, Haney has already accomplished a feat that some of the best boxers in the world have long sought after. He didn’t take the easy road to become undisputed but that’s been the story of Devin Haney’s career. 
Rather than try to make the Olympic team, Haney turned pro in Mexico at the age of 17 and fought grown men in various bars and holes in the wall. Behind a piston-like jab and poise well beyond his years, Haney made the climb through the lightweight division. Along the way he’s demonstrated resiliance, a high boxing IQ and an evoloving pedigree.
It’s scary to think that he’s not quite a finished product but has already exceeded expectations. Not to mention that he has another year of eligibility for this list and could top it again once the likes of Ennis, Stevenson, Lopez and Ortiz age out.  
“The Dream” is expected to be a nightmare for everyone he faces moving forward and he has the potential to become boxing’s next superstar.    

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