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By Peter Akinbo
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.
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 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.
Ngannou will be competing in just his second professional boxing fight after narrowly losing to Fury on debut last October.
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.
And Sulaiman says his rise to being No.1 in the WBC 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.
“He has had a sensational career and if he beats Francis Ngannou, then he is number one in the WBC while Francis Ngannou is number 10 so the winner will certainly be positioned for great things in the immediate future.”
Joshua wants to fight the winner of Fury v Usyk if he overcomes Ngannou but Sulaiman has thrown huge doubt over the potential of that fight happening anytime soon.
He says a rematch between Fury and Usyk is already in the pipeline and Joshua will have to rely on a late change if he wants to fight the winner next.
“We will see what happens as there are fights that need to happen before we elaborate on something else but both Fury vs Usyk and Joshua vs Ngannou are both very interesting fights.
“The WBC already sanctioned Fury v Usyk and the rematch. We received the request and have already accepted a rematch if the promoters put it together so that’s where the WBC stands. If the promoters change their request for the rematch, we will certainly address it,” he said.
