Here are the lists of heavyweight rankings by the four major sanctioning bodies + Ring + IBO (BoxRec). Which ones do you think are close to acceptable? Note: Usyk is the champion and is therefore not rated. WBA: 1. Bakole 2. Joshua 3. Dubois 4. Fury 5. Pero 6. Perez 7. Chaney 8. Hunter 9. Kabayel 10. Wilder WBC: 1. Joshua 2. Sanchez 3. Kabayel 4. Ajagba 5. Anderson 6. Dubois 7. Wilder 8. Hrgovic 9. Zhang 10. Bakole IBF: 1. Vacant 2. Vacant 3. Joshua 4. Kabayel 5. Anderson 6. Fury 7. Zhang 8. Sanchez 9. Ajagba 10. Hrgovic WBO: 1. Joshua 2. Zhang 3. Sanchez 4. Anderson 5. Hrgovic 6. Wardley 7. Dubois 8. Kabayel 9. Huni 10. Ajagba IBO (Boxrec): 1. Fury 2. Joshua 3. Parker 4. Zhang 5. Dubois 6. Kabayel 7. Bakole 8. Anderson 9. Ajagba 10. Ngannou Ring: 1. Fury 2. Joshua 3. Parker 4. Zhang 5. Kabayel 6. Dubois 7. Anderson 8. Joyce 9. Hrgovic 10. Ajagba
It highlights Top 10 in all belts have hardly fought anyone else in the Top 10 lol, most have 1 or 2 fellow Top 10s on there resume.
Honestly, I don't know whether I should be laughing or crying, staring at WBA's ranking list. Just look at the names - Pero, Perez, Chaney and Hunter! And Bakole at #1? WBC's list is decent, but the order is screwed up. IBF's top two slots are vacant, what does this even mean? Payment not received? WBO has some decent entries but also a couple of weak ones (Wardley and Huni). None of the four sanctioning bodies have named Joseph Parker, a consistent performer who is enjoying a purple patch in his career. He is WBO's interim champion, but what is the excuse of the other sanctioning bodies? Fury features in one list, at #6! IBO's list is mightily impressive if you refuse to look at the #10 ranked guy. Ring magazine has a nearly identical list, but I am not sure if both Hrgovic and Joyce belong there at this point. Personally, I feel that Ring Magazine has the best list, what do you think?
Usually its the RING because of the lack of sanctioning fees and because they are seen as the custodians of the lineal belt. IBOs rankings are the best because their main goal is to garner credibility so they can become a 5th major body. Generally which sanctioning body is the most credible fluctuates every few years but right now I think I'm on team IBF. In the 2000s the WBA was probably the most credible sanctioning body at HW. They punted that status and went back to their 80s self. WBC has been making bad decisions at HW pretty much the whole 21st century. WBO is the WBO.
There was an unscored knockdown in that fight which would have made Ngannou the lineal champion for a few months.
I think The Ring is most correct, but are they considered a sanctioning body? I like the IBO rankings aside from Ngannou, but if they're based on BoxRec, they're out of date. The latest Top 10 on BoxRec are: 1) Joshua 2) Kabayel (too high) 3) Fury 4) Dubois (ahead of Parker???) 5) Parker 6) Anderson (too high) 7) Zhang (too low) 8)Hunter (What?) 9) Joyce 10) Bakole Regardless, I think we can all agree the WBA is trash.
The IBO rankings are based on BoxRec, but they are not exactly the same as them. For instance, IBO has various regional titles which add some weight to the rankings. BoxRec's rankings are overtly objective and often do not even consider the magnitude of the event in which the fight is fought.
Probably the IBF They can't rank Dubois as he is IBF interim. They can't rank Parker as he is WBO interim. So if you slot them two into the vacant positions: 1. Dubois 2. Parker 3. Joshua 4. Kabayel 5. Anderson 6. Fury 7. Zhang 8. Sanchez 9. Ajagba 10. Hrgovic It's not terrible