Joshua will face Oleksandr Usyk later this 12 months in a rematch for the unified heavyweight titles, however has dropped under Tyson Fury’s cousin Hughie within the WBA rankings
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Anthony Joshua has dropped to No.5 within the World Boxing Affiliation’s heavyweight rankings, under Tyson Fury’s cousin Hughie.
The 2-time world champion will combat for the governing physique’s world title when he rematches Oleksandr Usyk later this 12 months, however that hasn’t stopped them placing him in fifth place on their month-to-month rankings.
Joshua will compete for the WBA, WBO and IBF titles in opposition to the unbeaten Usyk, in addition to the much less wanted IBO belt.
However ought to he lose, it will likely be a protracted highway again to the WBA title, after he was ranked behind Daniel Dubois, Michael Hunter, Robert Helenius and Hughie Fury.
Joshua has overwhelmed out Deontay Wilder for his place, with the American sitting under him in sixth, whereas the listing is rounded out by Agit Kabayel, Arslanbek Makhmudov, Zhan Kossobutskiy and Martin Bakole.
Andy Ruiz Jr has been faraway from the listing as a combat with Tyson Fury edges nearer, though Fury’s WBC belt will not be on the road if that’s the case.
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Picture:
Motion Pictures through Reuters)
Joshua will certainly be dissatisfied to lose out to the likes of Dubois and Hunter, each of whom have shipped poor leads to latest outings.
Dubois was brutally stopped by Joe Joyce again in November of 2020, earlier than coming again to win the interim title in opposition to Bogdan Dinu and beating Joe Cusumano on his American debut.
In the meantime Hunter most lately drew with Jerry Forrest in New York, with many believing that Forrest was robbed of the break up choice.
It might be onerous to argue with Helenius and Fury’s positions on the listing, significantly the Finn after he viciously stopped Adam Kownacki of their final two fights.
Kownacki was unbeaten earlier than arising in opposition to Helenius in Brooklyn earlier than the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, however misplaced their first and second fights each by knockout.
Elsewhere, Fury has gained three on the bounce since his final loss to Alexander Povetkin, defeating Pavel Bitter, Mariusz Wach and Christian Hammer after returning to the ring in 2020.
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The WBA at present have two champions, with Usyk holding the ‘tremendous’ title which is taken into account the authentic world stage belt, and Trevor Bryan set to lastly face Manuel Charr later this month.
Usyk comfortably defeated Joshua for the entire belts once they fought in September, outboxing the Brit regardless of coming into the ring as an underdog because of his dimension.
The Ukrainian had moved up from cruiserweight after changing into the undisputed champion, however seemed unimpressive in his first outings in opposition to Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora.
However he had mounted his errors when he stepped into the ring in opposition to Joshua on the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London, dominating the bout from begin to end and leaving with the world titles.
The win triggered a rematch clause permitting Joshua to have one other shot on the belts, and the winner is more likely to face Tyson Fury for the undisputed title later within the 12 months.
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