By David Finger
At the 61st annual WBC Convention in Tashkent, Uzbekistan the eagerly anticipated ratings session kicked off in the heavyweight division. The most recent WBC rankings were unveiled at the convention and perhaps the most notable development was the presence of Francis Ngannou, who lost a split decision to Tyson Fury earlier this month in his professional debut, ranked at #10. Although it is hard to deny that any fighter who drops the world champion and loses a split decision deserves a top ten ranking, it is nonetheless an unprecedented development to see a fighter with only one fight in the world rankings.
The other major development was the WBC board voting to switch places of #12 Joe Joyce and #14 Daniel Dubois in the rankings. The move was suggested to Francis Warren by Mauricio Sulaiman after Warren asked to see Dubois move up from #14, citing his performance in his word title fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
“If Daniel and Joe were to be switched, would that satisfy you?” Sulaiman asked.
“Yes. Joe will not be happy with me, but I have to be fair,” said Warren.
The WBC ratings committee voted to make the change, with Dubois now the #12 ranked heavyweight while Joe Joyce drops to #14.
very good. lets see him fight another top guy
Absolutely ridiculous!
It was an EXHIBITION and he gets a top ten ranking on one fight?!?! GTFOH.
There are guys that work there entire lives trying to get ranked and side show gets elevated over them for a fake most likely scripted sparring session.
WBC = We Be Criminals
It’s all about money and entertainment. Bottom line.
– Agree w/both SteveG and Mr. Scoob on this.
– “WBC” = We Be Corrupt, per Teddy Atlas.
SteveG, this was a fully sanctioned official boxing match, not an exhibition bout.
Henry v V, my bad you are correct. I just looked it up on boxrec. I thought it was an exhibitio, I can’t believe it was sanctioned!
Wow how bad does that look on Fury’s record that he had 30 some fights and fought a guy making his debut. Lmao.
But even with that, I still don’t think Ngannou should be ranked in top 10.
I like Ngannou but man, let him stay busy and work his way up the ladder in a boxing ring.
The stance, footwork, defense etc is vastly different from MMA.
Good opponents to get him ranked in the top 10 would be Daniel Dubois, chisora, dillian whyte, Makhmudov etc.
Ranked by exhibition nullifies their own ranking credentials. Their is a monetary value for fighters to have the ranking and or belts. Therefore, maybe a class action lawsuit is in order for everyone that they ranked below Ngannou. What is the legal terminology for proving financial damages in order to justify lawsuits?
Well, what difference does it make at this point? Ever fight is on PPV, some fighters get to hold on to a title forever while others get stripped immediately, one of the most notable boxers is a Youtuber, and as much as fans complain it will not change because we continue to watch and support. Why not give him a top 10. On the other hand, Ngannou has an amazing story rags to riches story. Boxing was his first love and he’s living his dream. More power to him. I hope to see Wilder vs Ngannou next. Someone is guaranteed to go to sleep.
I wonder if am I gona see chicharito Hernández is this list pretty soon ????
Carlos although I know who Chicharito is a lot of people on here will not get your humor. Funny tho.
Yea that’s what I thought
But for those whom wonder who is chicharito ???
Chicharito is a Mexican soccer player
Genaro “Chicanito” Hernandez ?
Tyson Fury needs to be blamed for this. If he had taken this fight seriously the crooks @WBC would have never gotten the opportunity to do this. Also someone forgot to send Ngannou the memo stating this was an exebition. What a blunder…
“Exhibition”
Ngannou fought and dropped the heavyweight champion and lost on a split decision in his very first boxing match. Of course he deserves a top 10 ranking. How he got to fight the heavyweight champion is another question, but he did and proved himself.
Naaaaa but this fight was exhibition fight
He’ll probably fight the punching bags, dereck chisora or dillian whyte next!
Lmaoooo
so who was the fighter that lost his spot, and if Ngannou gets beat by a unranked fighter will that opponent suddenly be 10th ranked.
What a shame, just think about the other HW contenders who are working their asses off to climb those rankings to be rated lower because of an ex UFC champion who just did one exhibition with one of the HW champion.. Ridiculous… Boxing crooks at their best..
Comedy! It was obviously scripted but the masses ate it and that’s all they care about ♂️