The hits just keep on coming for Anthony Joshua after that devastating loss to Daniel Dubois last month, this time courtesy of boxing bible Ring magazine.
AJ (now 28-4) went into the Wembley showdown as a hot favourite to become a three-time world heavyweight champion, but Dubois tore up the script in incredible fashion to roar to a fifth-round knockout victory.
Joshua was on the floor four times in total, the first at the end of Round 1 thanks to a massive Dubois right hand. In truth he never really recovered from that as he was handed the most conclusive defeat of his professional career so far.
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The form Joshua had displayed in recent fights made this an even bigger shocker – his demolition jobs on Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou in particular suggested he was once again the wrecking ball who once ruled the heavyweight division with fear.
But the exciting new partnership with head trainer Ben Davison hit its first major blip as AJ was completely taken apart and humbled in front of a record boxing crowd of 96,000 at Wembley Stadium.
It was an astonishing night, and it brought plenty of post-fight inquests as one might imagine, with many questioning whether AJ is done at the very highest level.
After the analysis, of course, comes those eagerly-awaited heavyweight rankings updates – did AJ fall? And just how far?
The most eagerly-awaited of all is boxing bible Ring magazine, which had Joshua at number 2 before the Dubois fight – behind only champion Oleksandr Usyk and another British superstar in Tyson Fury. But now things look very very different.
Joshua in Ring freefall
The Ring dropped Joshua all the way down to #7 on its latest list – as low as we can ever remember. We can’t remember the last time the Watford man was outside of the top 4.
Usyk remains the champion of course – he’ll defend that belt next in his December 21 rematch against #1-ranked Fury in Riyadh. Then Dubois moves up to #2 behind Fury – well deserved on the back of a career-best performance which followed similar efforts against Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic.
The rejuvenated Joseph Parker is up to #3 after his terrific wins over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang, while Zhang comes next after rebounding from the Parker loss to destroy the fading force that is Wilder.
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German star Agit Kabayel is now #5 on the back of superb victories over Arslanbek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez in recent months, before Martin Bakole moves up to #6 on the back of his demolition of the much-hyped Jared Anderson. Then comes the falling Joshua.
The top 10 is completed by the aforementioned Hrgovic, Nigerian prospect Efe Ajagba and Australia’s Justis Huni.
The Ring Heavyweight Rankings
The latest Ring heavyweight rankings look like this:
- Champion: Oleksandr Usyk
- 1. Tyson Fury
- 2. Daniel Dubois
- 3. Joseph Parker
- 4. Zhilei Zhang
- 5. Agit Kabayel
- 6. Martin Bakole
- 7. Anthony Joshua
- 8. Filip Hrgovic
- 9. Efe Ajagba
- 10. Justis Huni
You can also check out the latest rankings from the four major sanctioning bodies who have recognised world heavyweight titles.
