Tyson Fury Still Ranked No. 1—Is It Fair
There’s been a lot happening in boxing lately, especially with Tyson Fury’s retirement news. Also, Bakole dropped in the IBF rankings after his knockout loss to Joseph Parker. Let’s dive into the heavyweight rankings.
The Ring Magazine recently updated their top 10 heavyweight rankings, which they shared on their X social media account. In the rankings, Tyson Fury is ranked first, followed by Daniel Dubois, Joseph Parker, Agit Kabayel, Anthony Joshua, Zhilei Zhang, Martin Bakole, Filip Hrgovic, Fabio Wardley, and finally, Efe Ajagba. Oleksandr Usyk is the undefeated and undisputed champion.
Since the announcement, fans have reacted to Tyson Fury being ranked number one by Ring Magazine in the heavyweight division. The reason for this is clear—Fury is retired. Across other ranking bodies, like the IBF, WBA, WBO, and WBC, his name has been removed from the top 15.
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Another reason for the reaction is Tyson Fury’s back-to-back defeats against Usyk in the Riyadh season in Saudi Arabia. As we saw with Bakole’s ranking drop after his loss last Saturday, it seems like a different case for Fury. How did he manage to keep his spot?
Fury seems to be relying on his past victories from 3-5 years ago. It feels unfair. If past performances are a major factor, then boxers like Dubois, Parker, and even Kabayel should be ranked higher than Fury.
It’s no surprise that Ring Magazine is owned by Turki Alalshikh, which raises questions about whether there is information about Fury’s return that hasn’t been made public yet. Could there truly be a return and a fight against Anthony Joshua? Fury hasn’t won against a top 10 opponent. He should be ranked 6th at best.
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