I was looking at the ranking of the WBO and surprise, Kovalev in not in the top 15 despite Yarde and Alvarez being in the top 10. But Kovalev appears in the WBC ranking 8th instead. I am not very sure, I think a fighter needs to pay and meet some requirements in order to fight for a particular belt, could it be that Kovalev is no longer interested by the WBO belt and is now after Beterbiev? That would be crazy because Beterbiev is not a good fight for him. Can someone more knowledgeable please explain what is going on.
Also Kovalev is ranked 1 in the IBO right below the current IBO belt holder Sven Fornling. That would be the logical next fight for Kovalev, IMO.
He, uh, did just get knocked out? Could have something to do with it. When did the WBO publish its rankings? If before he fought Canelo, then yeah, I guess you'd have a point that his lack of ranking would be strange. If since, however..
My guess is they haven’t updated the rankings but merely the champion. As Canelo is now champ they would have updated this on the rankings page and Kovalev is removed. He will then reappear either when the next set of ranking is published or when he next fights. for what it’s worth my understanding is that as he lost he has another fight on his DAZN contract if he chooses to carry on. The logical fight in that case is against Bivol