DEONTAY WILDER has overtaken Anthony Joshua in the Ring Magazine heavyweight rankings.
The Bronze Bomber’s return to the fight game has seen him soar above AJ and into No1 in the rankings behind belt holder Oleksandr Usyk.
It comes following contrasting results in each of their most recent bouts.
Wilder won by a first-round knockout against Robert Helenius on his boxing comeback in New York, US, last week.
But Joshua was on the end of another defeat from Ukrainian champ Usyk in September as he failed to win the WBO, WBA and IBF belts back and become a three-time world champion.
And despite WIlder not having a belt to his name, he has now overtaken Joshua to be ranked as the world number one heavyweight boxer, according to the publication.
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Brit Joe Joyce comes in at number three ahead of Andy Ruiz Jr. and Dillian Whyte.
Wilder’s victory has paved the way for him to fight Ruiz to decide who will be the mandatory challenger for Tyson Fury’s WBC belt.
Luis Ortiz ranks in at number six, while Joseph Parker – who recently lost to number three Joyce – ranks in seventh.
The top 10 is rounded out by Filip Hrgovic, Frank Sanchez and Zhilei Zhang.
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Fury, who knocked out Wilder in the final two fights of their epic trilogy, vacated the Ring Magazine title following his “retirement” earlier this year.
This meant the belt was left to be won by the victor of Uysk Joshua II and explains his absence from the rankings.
And the Gypsy King revealed that the reason behind this was to emulate icon Muhammad Ali.
After his fight against Derek Chisora in December, Fury is then expected to take on Usyk in a historic unification fight which will see all four belts on the line for the first time in the four-belt era.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
