Tyson Fury has fallen down the WBO heavyweight rankings following his defeat to champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury was ranked No.1 by the major sanctioning body heading into his rematch with Usyk for the WBO, WBC and WBA titles earlier this month.
However, after suffering a second defeat against the Ukrainian on points, he dropped two places in the WBO’s December rankings to No.3.
The fighters who benefitted from Fury’s tumble are Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole, who both move up one spot to No.1 and No.2 respectively – although ‘Big Bang’ isn’t expected to hold on to his position for long.
Zhang is due to face Agit Kabayel on February 22 for the WBC’s interim title.
The WBO tends to remove boxers from its rankings who compete for interim and full world titles of other organisations so the Chinese powerhouse is unlikely to still be No.1 by March.
Bakole could then jump up one spot as a result, however, he also looks to be going down another route.
The Congolese puncher is slated to face Efe Ajagba in an IBF final eliminator next year.
Initially, Kabayel and Zhang were called to box Bakole but they chose to fight each other instead, while Ajagba was the IBF’s third choice.
The rest of the WBO rankings stayed the same, with the rest of the places from No.4 to No.15 reading as follows: Agit Kabayel, Justis Huni, Moses Itauma, Fabio Wardley, Anthony Joshua, Jared Anderson, Efe Ajagba, Otto Wallin, Nelson Hysa, Johnny Fisher, Derek Chisora, Jermaine Franklin.
For now, Parker remains the WBO’s interim champion although newly appointed president Gustavo Olivieri recently confirmed to talkSPORT.com that he will be stripped once the bell rings for his upcoming clash with IBF champion Daniel Dubois.
“When you have an interim champion, we don’t unify an interim champion with a legitimate champion from another organization, that is our policy,” Olivieri said.
WBO heavyweight rankings – December 2024
Oleksandr Usyk is the full WBO champion while Joseph Parker holds the interim title
- Zhilei Zhang
- Martin Bakole
- Tyson Fury
- Agit Kabayel
- Justis Huni
- Moses Itauma
- Fabio Wardley
- Anthony Joshua
- Jared Anderson
- Efe Ajagba
- Otto Wallin
- Nelson Hysa
- Johnny Fisher
- Derek Chisora
- Jermaine Franklin
“So what we’ve done in this case is we’ve advised Queensberry Promotions, that we have no objection to Parker fighting for the IBF title.
“None at all. It is a great fight. We have a great relationship with the IBF, I’m very close to its president Darryl Peoples.
“But since we have this policy, he [Parker] would have to relinquish the title.
“So probably what we are going to do, in consultation with the Championship Committee, is allow Joseph as a matter of respect to enter the ring as WBO interim champion and be announced as the champion.
“But once the bell rings, signifying the commencement of the fight, the title should be declared vacant automatically.”
Once Parker has been stripped, the WBO will go about ordering a vacant interim title fight.
At the time of writing, the highest available challengers are No.3 Fury, No.5 Justis Huni and No.6 Moses Itauma.
It is highly unlikely Fury would look to compete for an interim title so Huni vs Itauma is the most likely matchup.
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