Not Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua is the WBC’s Best Boxer

JAKARTA – Anthony Joshua officially the best British heavyweight boxer according to the WBC. How is that possible? The WBC also explained Anthony Joshua’s defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have long struggled to attain the status of the greatest British heavyweight boxer of the modern era and were on the cusp of fighting for the undisputed title between 2020-2021 before Anthony Joshua lost the belt to Oleksandr Usyk in London.

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury then had a rematch and Joshua lost again, leaving his career in rough shape and now having to rebuild it.

Anthony Joshua who made this comeback is considered one of the best by the WBC, even above Fury, after Fury, was recently defeated by Oleksandr Usyk.

“Tyson Fury was previously ranked as the WBC heavyweight champion,” WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman told TalkSport.

“And Anthony Joshua has been the number one contender in the WBC rankings for a few months. He has had two fights by knockout (Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou) and Tyson Fury was placed at No. 2 by the rankings committee after his loss to Oleksandr Usyk. Champions don’t always drop in the rankings,” he added.

Despite being nearly stopped by the Ukrainian in the ninth round of their fight at the Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia on May 18, Fury insists he felt he won the fight.

The former WBC champion will now begin preparing for their rematch on December 21, 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

With Joshua ranked number one by the WBC, one spot below the champion, could we see a trilogy fight between the 34-year-old and the current undisputed king of boxing?

According to the boxing council, being ranked as the next best opponent is not a guarantee of being a mandatory challenger for the gold belt so there is no obligation for Usyk to face the 2012 Olympic gold medalist again.

“We don’t have a mandatory contender at this time. The WBC has the absolute authority to appoint a mandatory challenger when they win the last eliminator fight or when they go through a process and are selected as the mandatory challenger,” Sulaiman said.

“The mandatory contender has to be the highest level opponent a champion should have and we’ve been very clear on that. Why force a mandatory when you’ve already confirmed the Fury-Usyk rematch?” he said.

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