Get Guardian on GoogleAjagba maintains 10th place in latest Ring boxing ranking
Nigeria’s world heavyweight boxing title prospect, Efe Ajagba, retained his position as the 10th best fighter in the category in the latest Ring Magazine rankings, but there is no place for former world champion, Anthony Joshua in the top 10.
World heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk, is still the number one heavyweight, followed by another former world champion, Tyson Fury. Since Joshua lost to Daniel Dubois in a world championship bout early this year, the London 2012 Olympics gold medallist has gradually faded away from the rankings, with such new prospects as Moses Itauma and Fabio Wadley coming into reckoning.
The big change in the heavyweight division just arrived after one of the fights of the year between Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley. Wardley stopped Parker in dramatic fashion in the 11th round of their back-and-forth battle at London’s O2 Arena last week.
In doing so, he put himself in line to challenge Ring and undisputed heavyweight champion Usyk in 2026. Wardley, 30, was an underdog heading into his fight with Parker but, just as he did against Justis Huni in June, pulled a rabbit out of the hat late on to stun his opponent, who was leading on two cards at the time of the stoppage.
With the win, Wardley moved up four places to the No. 2 spot, while Parker moved down twice to No. 4. Germany’s Agit Kabayel occupies the third spot, with Dubois in fifth, followed by
Filip Hrgovic of Croatia, Zhilei Zhang of China, Martin Bakole of Congo, Itauma and Ajagba in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th positions respectively.
