Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is in line to earn a Deontay Wilder crack after making a return to the World Boxing Council ratings.
The Briton, who lost four title belts to Andy Ruiz Jr. on June 1st, was hastily added to the June WBC list.
As Joshua held championships with other organizations, he wasn’t ranked at all by the WBC. This is standard practice across the board.
Due to AJ being bereft of stipulations with any other body, the WBC could then add the 2012 Olympic gold medalist to third position.
Placed behind UK rivals Dillian Whyte and Tyson Fury, Joshua could earn a mandatory chance in the very near future.
Landing in the Top 15 also gives Joshua the opportunity to be selected as a voluntary by Wilder.
Joshua’s addition sees Luis Ortiz drop to four, with Dominic Breazeale, previously in that spot, plummeting to thirteen.
Breazeale lost to Wilder in one round on May 18, meaning ‘Trouble’ has plenty of work to do to get back in contention.
Michael Hunter cracks the Top 15 at the expense of Frenchman Tony Yoka. Despite being banned for a year, Yoka featured with the WBC for the duration.
Ironically, with his comeback confirmed for July this week, the WBC decided to remove the Rio 2016 champion completely.
WBC TOP 40 – HEAVYWEIGHT (June 2019):
CHAMPION: Deontay Wilder
1/ Dillian Whyte (Jamaica/GB) SILVER
2/ Tyson Fury (GB)
3/ Anthony Joshua (GB) * CBP/P
4/ Luis Ortiz (Cuba)
5/ Adam Kownacki (US)
6/ Joseph Parker (New Zealand)
7/ Alexander Povetkin (Russia)
8/ Kubrat Pulev (Bulgaria)
9/ Agit Kabayel (Germany) EBU
10/ Oscar Rivas (Colombia/Canada) NABF
11/ Dereck Chisora (GB)
12/ Filip Hrgovic (Croatia) INTL * CBP/P
13/ Dominic Breazeale (US)
14/ Joe Joyce (GB) COMM
15/ Michael Hunter (US) * CBP/P
VOLUNTARY CUT-OFF
16/ Charles Martin (US)
17/ Carlos Takam (Cameroon)
18/ Efe Ajagba (Nigeria/US)
19/ Sergey Kuzmin (Russia)
20/ Nathan Gorman (GB)
21/ Hughie Fury (GB) BBB C
22/ Daniel Dubois (GB) YOUTH
23/ Bryant Jennings (US)
24/ Robert Helenius (Finland)
25/ Kyotaro Fujimoto (Japan) OPBF
26/ Tyrone Spong (Surinam) LATINO
27/ Marco Huck (GB)
28/ Artur Szpilka (Poland)
29/ Evgeny Romanov (Russia)
30/ Chris Arreola (US)
31/ David Allen (GB)
32/ Petar Milas (Croatia) MEDITERRANEAN
33/ Tom Schwarz (Germany)
34/ Arslanbek Makhmudov (Russia/Canada) AMERICA
35/ Izuagbe Ugonoh (Poland)
36/ Otto Wallin (Sweden)
37/ Jermaine Franklin (US)
38/ Oleksandr Teslenko (Ukraine/Canada)
39/ Martin Bakole (Congo/GB)
40/ Tshibuabua Kalonga (Congo/Germany) ABU
READ: WBC Top 40 – Heavyweight (May 2019): David Allen makes breakthrough
