When Cuba’s talented Andy Cruz agreed to turn professional with Matchroom it introduced into the already remarkable lightweight division the fourth fighter required to define an era.
The Olympic gold medallist – who demonstrated his vast potential by defeating America’s admired Keyshawn Davis at Tokyo 2020 – could even prove, to the minds of some observers, the finest fighter of the four.

That even the great Vasyl Lomachenko – on account of his 35 years and being so much smaller than his rivals – Teofimo Lopez and Ryan Garcia have widely been discounted from the modern era’s possible equivalent to the Four Kings reflects the standards to which the anointed four are being held.
Any group hoping to earn parity with the great 'Sugar' Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran must not only consist of the very highest calibre fighters but be willing to accept the most dangerous of fights. It may even transpire that between them, Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis, Shakur Stevenson and Cruz have the necessary physical and technical abilities to do so, but not the conditions to secure what would be their defining nights.
When Davis so seamlessly stopped Garcia in April he further vindicated Floyd Mayweather’s faith in him, and – as 1.2m pay-per-views and Las Vegas’ fifth highest ever gate showed – with a suitable rival the extent of his appeal. He was already recognised as the heaviest handed of the four fighters and by stopping the exciting Garcia he showed the extent to which Garcia would struggle to compete against he, Haney and Stevenson – already established as their division’s best.
The 28-year-old, from Baltimore, had already won a world super featherweight title by the time he made his move to 135lbs. His finest victory, over Garcia, came at a catchweight of 136lbs against a naturally bigger fighter more comfortable at super lightweight, and preceded him being sentenced to 90 days of home detention and three years of probation when having left four people – a pregnant woman included – injured he pleaded guilty to a hit-and-run.

Haney’s progress has been considerably less dramatic, and yet no less convincing. When he beat George Kambosos Jnr in Australia to become the undisputed lightweight champion he did so after Kambosos Jnr shocked Lopez, precipitating the talented Lopez’s move to 140lbs. Lopez fought Kambosos Jnr having previously recorded one of the most impressive victories of the modern era – he outpointed Lomachenko when the Ukrainian remained thought of as the world’s very best.
It is no secret the extent to which Mayweather remains an admirer – nor to which Haney has modelled himself on another fighter considered among history’s best – but perhaps on account of not quite having the calibre of rivals as once did Leonard, even Mayweather is not yet revered in the same way as the Four Kings.
For all of his and Davis’ achievements – and they have been as significant as they have been impressive – it is the then-19-year-old Rio 2016 silver medallist Stevenson who is widely expected to succeed Mayweather as the widely recognised pound-for-pound king. Since Mayweather’s retirement at various times Lomachenko, Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk have been considered the world’s finest active fighter, but none has defined their sport at their peak like Mayweather and before him the great Roy Jones.
Newark’s Stevenson eased to victory over the dangerous Oscar Valdez at super featherweight a year before Davis as convincingly overcame Garcia. He has since moved to 135lbs where he is proving a natural, and where, in his only fight, he has already proved the extent to which he poses Haney a threat.
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If it requires remarkable talent to surpass Stevenson’s amateur achievements then Cruz, 27, proved that that is what he possessed in not only winning Olympic gold but following doing so by securing a third successive world championship gold medal and two gold medals at the Pan American Games. He is even considered the most rounded fighter to emerge from Cuba since the great Guillermo Rigondeaux, whose progress as a professional was only halted by Lomachenko at the Ukrainian’s peak.
“Right now, in the division he can fight, who is better?” asked the respected Ismael Salas – a compatriot of Cruz and once Rigondeaux’s trainer – of Davis after his victory over Garcia. “Haney? Lomachenko is getting older. Now Lomachenko has to prove how good he is – with Haney [when they fight on May 20]. Then you can talk about Lomachenko.
“[Davis has] impressed me for a long time. His timing’s amazing. He’s started to read each and every punch, and will always try to hurt you.
“He’s a slow starter. A very slow starter. But after he measures you, he takes over.”

Bob Arum – who once promoted not only Mayweather but Manny Pacquiao, Haney and Lomachenko, and oversaw fights between the Four Kings – said to Stevenson: “As good as [Hagler] was, and he was great, you’re gonna surpass him. I really believe that.”
None other than Floyd Mayweather Snr described Haney, 24 and of Vegas, as a 'carbon copy' of his son, and Mayweather Jnr, who has since sparred with him, said: “After seeing him work in the doghouse, I know he's going to be unbelievable.”
Eddie Hearn, having described Matanzas’ Cruz as 'maybe our greatest ever signing' after previously working with Alvarez, Usyk and others, said: “[Cruz is] going to start with ten rounds in July [on his professional debut] and I’ll say it now. You’ve heard me ranting and raving about Shakur Stevenson, and I think he’s unbelievable.
“I would back Andy Cruz against any lightweight in the world now. This kid is unbelievable, and I am so blessed to secure his signature. It is a major, major coup.”
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