Boxing: Joshua To Earn No. 1 Ranking With Ngannou Win

World Boxing Council President, Mauricio Sulaiman, has said that former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will earn the WBC’s No.1 ranking if he beats Francis Ngannou.

Joshua will enter the ring with Ngannou on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in what will be his fourth fight in the space of 11 months after victories over Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin.

READ ALSO: Anthony Joshua defeats Otto Wallin by Round 5 TKO

Ngannou will be competing in just his second professional boxing fight after narrowly losing to Fury on debut last October.

However, Sulaiman insists a potential fight with Tyson Fury will likely have to wait as he is already committed to a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.

Joshua held the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts until he lost to Usyk in September 2021 and he has got his career back on track following successive defeats against the Ukrainian.

Sulaiman says his rise to being No.1 in the Francis Ngannou. will be complete if he is victorious in March.

“Anthony Joshua was first ranked by the WBC when he started as a professional and then he kept moving up and was ranked inside the top five and then number 2 ranked when he received the opportunity to fight for another title (the IBF),”  he told gambling.com.

PUNCH/MTO