AS the anniversary of his most recent outing approaches, Anthony Joshua is once again being linked to a number of high-profile fights ahead of his comeback. However, the IBF have today released their updated heavyweight rankings, with Joshua left out entirely.
A two-time heavyweight world champion, Joshua, 28-4 (25 KOs), had the chance to become the fifth three-time conqueror in heavyweight history when he went toe-to-toe with Daniel Dubois under the Wembley arch almost 12 months ago.
Yet, it was Dubois who instead provided a generational performance, dominating the contest from the get-go with a brutal performance that culminated in the dramatic fifth-round stoppage of his fellow Briton.
Dubois has since gone on to lose the IBF heavyweight crown, with Joshua marking his only defence of the title and Oleksandr Usyk bringing the reign of ‘Triple D’ to an end with a fifth-round knockout victory of his own.
Now, having undergone elbow surgery due to injuries sustained in his duel with Dubois, Joshua is set to return in early 2026 and has recently been linked to a fight in Ghana against France’s Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist, Tony Yoka, 14-3 (11 KOs).
Although, as his comeback nears, it seems as though Joshua will have plenty of work to do if he is to re-emerge as a title threat, in the eyes of the IBF at least, after being removed from the IBF heavyweight rankings, despite being ranked as their #5 contender the month prior.
Yoka remains unranked by all four of the sanctioning bodies, whilst Joshua is not present in the WBA’s top 15, as well as the IBF’s. However, ‘AJ’ remains ranked at #3 and #7 with the WBC and WBO, respectively.
The full world rankings are available to view on the Boxing News website here.
