Boxingtalk's heavyweight rankings as of Dec. 20, 2021

By Boxingtalk's Rating Committee

27/12/2021

Boxingtalk's heavyweight rankings as of Dec. 20, 2021

1.  Tyson Fury (United Kingdom) - He holds only one of the four major belts (WBC), but there really is no disputing that he deserves the #1 ranking.

2.  Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine) - The former world cruiserweight champion belongs in the conversation for 2021 fighter of the year based on his win over Anthony Joshua.

3.  Anthony Joshua (United Kingdom) - Lost the WBO / IBF / WBA championships to Usyk. Now must determine if he really wants to enforce the rematch clause.

4.  Deontay Wilder (United States) - After two comprehensive beatdowns from Fury, the former WBC champion deserves a long recovery break.

5.  Dillian Whyte (United Kingdom) - We are still waiting to hear whether the WBC will mandate Fury vs. Whyte, the interim title holder. And it the fight is ordered, will Fury comply?

6.  Joe Joyce (United Kingdom) - Last two fights were a 2020 destruction of Daniel Dubois and a July 2021 win vs. Carlos Takam. Nothing scheduled for 2022 yet.

7.  Joseph Parker (New Zealand) - Gave Dereck Chisora an immediate rematch in December and won convincingly.

8.  Andy Ruiz (United States) - Former three-belt champion has only had one fight in the last two years, a win over Chris Arreola. 

9.  Luis Ortiz (Cuba) - Fights Charles Martin on New Year's Day.

10.  Frank Sanchez (Cuba) - Has stayed busy and upped his profile with a very solid win over Efe Ajagba.

11.  Otto Wallin (Sweden) - Whyte left Wallin high and dry by pulling out of their scheduled fight.

12.  Mike Hunter (United States) - The Boxingtalk rankings committee was kind to Hunter considering he just fought to a draw with Jerry Forrest. 

13.  Robert Helenius (Finland) - Last two fights were wins over Adam Kownacki. 

14.  Kubrat Pulev (Bulgaria) - Lost to Joshua but came back with a win over washed-up MMA star Frank Mir.

15.  Tony Yoka (France) - 2016 Olympic gold medal winner may have regressed a bit in August's win over previously undefeated Petar Milas, but he's in tough in January vs. Martin Bakole.

16.  Agit Kabayel (Germany) - Hasn't done much in years, but he's undefeated and holds a win over Dereck Chisora.

17.  Dereck Chisora (United Kingdom) - This is a pretty favorable rating for a courageous but likely past-his-prime 37 year old.

18.  Charles Martin (United States) - Ex-IBF champ dropped a few notches for inactivity, but we only have to wait until his January 1st fight vs. Ortiz to see where he stands amongst his heavyweight peers.

19.  Hughie Fury (United Kingdom) - Treaded water in 2021 with one fight, a win over Christian Hammer.

20.  Martin Bakole (Democratic Republic of the Congo) - African big man has a huge opportunity coming on January 15th vs. Yoka.

21.  Filip Hrgovic (Croatia) - Boxingtalk's switch from one person to a ratings committee caused a significant drop in Hrgovic's ranking. He remains undefeated but untested.

22.  Adam Kownacki (Poland) - Boxingtalk's committee was also kind to Kownacki considering he has not won a fight since Chris Arreola in 2019.

23.  Daniel Dubois (United Kingdom) - Had two fairly soft wins in 2021, Bogdan Dinu and Joe Cusumano.

24.  Carlos Takam (Cameroon / France) - A loss to Joe Joyce caused only a slight drop in his ranking.

25.  Efe Ajagba (Nigeria) - Last fight was a decision loss to Sanchez. 

OTHERS GETTING VOTES: 26. Murat Gassiev; 27. Jerry Forrest; 28. Arslanbek Makhmudov; 29. Oscar Rivas [WBC bridgerweight champion]; 30. Zhang Zhilei; 31. Dominic Breazeale; 32. Gerald Washington; 33. Chris Arreola; 34 (tie). Trevor Bryan; 34 (tie) George Arias.

BUBBLING UNDER: 36. Bakhodir Jalolov; 37. Zhan Kossobutskiy; 38. Jared Anderson; 39. Fabio Wardley; 40. Demsey McKean; 41. Mahmoud Charr; 42. Stephan Shaw; 43. Justis Huni; 44. Jonathan Rice; 45. Alen Babic; 46. Andrey Fedosov; 47. Sergey Kuzmin; 48. Mike Balogun; 49. Jack Mulowayi; 50. Vladyslav Sirenko; 51. Simon Kean; 52. Viktor Vykhurst a/k/a Victor Faust; 53. Lukas Rozanski; 54. Hemi Ahio; 55. Ivan Dychko; 56. Peter Kadiru; 57. Kash Ali; 58. Christian Hammer; 59. Nathan Gorman; 60. Junior Fa; 61. Arslan Iallyev; 62. Evgeny Romanov; 63. Jose Larduet; 64. Carlos Negron; 65. Joel Tambwe Djeko; 66. Mariusz Wach; 67. Ali Eren Demirezen; 68. Michael Polite Coffie; 69. Petar Milas; 70. Dusan Veletic.

OUT OF RANKINGS: Alexander Povetkin (retired); Jarrell Miller (PED issues); Artur Szpilka (loss to Rozanski).
 
THE COMMITTEE: Boxingtalk has put together a three-person rating committee consisting of Scott Shaffer, Michael Borao, Jr. and a boxing executive who wishes to remain anonymous at this time due to having to deal with promoters whose boxers appear in these rankings. 
 
Boxingtalk's lightweight rankings as of Dec. 13, 2021 can be found here.

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