CHRIS EUBANK JNR is now ranked No 7 in the world by the WBC at super-middleweight – despite never having fought at 168lbs.
The once-beaten Brightonian recently announced he will move to super-middleweight, having previously won the British middleweight title, to fight lightly regarded Renold Quinlan.
In 2016 he walked away from a fight with Gennady Golovkin and has now committed his immediate future to super-middleweight, with his clash against Quinlan being shown on ITV pay-per-view in the UK.
While at 160lbs he was ranked at No 2 by the WBC, one behind Jorge Sebastian Heiland. Now, despite not yet actually fighting at super-middleweight, he has leapt into the top 10 at 168lbs, one place behind Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr, in the most recent batch of ratings.
The WBC super-middleweight belt is currently held by Badou Jack, who will meet IBF champion James DeGale in a unification fight on January 14. The winner will have 90 days to fight WBC mandatory challenger Callum Smith.
Eubank Jnr’s fight with Quinlan is for the farcical IBO title and the WBC have no involvement with the bout, however they seem to have ranked Eubank at super-middleweight in anticipation of his inevitable win.
It is unclear at this stage whether he will remain at super-middleweight after the fight, but he has previously spoken about operating at the higher weight with a view to fighting the likes of DeGale.