By Shaun Murphy-
WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Uysk is now officially the best heavyweight in the world, according to Ring Magazine.
The respected world boxing magazine, currently owned by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Enterprises division of Golden Boy Promotions after acquiring it in 2007, has been publishing annual ratings of boxers in 1924.
Tyson Fury is now second in the rankings after his unified heavyweight showdown against Usyk fell through.
Fury originally vacated the Ring Magazine heavyweight belt while claiming he was retired back in August, and the Magazine had planned to include him in the rankings after the now aborted clash with Usyk, originally pencilled in for April 29 this year.
Despite holding the undisputed belts, Fury was generally regarded as the best heavyweight in the world until his poor negotiation for the unification fight against Usyk which sparked suspicions the big, mobile and awkward heavy weight champion was avoiding Usyk by making negotiations next to impossible.
Usyk did not give a warning that he would withdraw from negotiations , after being fed up with Fury’s inflexible hand of dealing, and neither did Fury attempt to save the fight by suggesting a solution or compromise.
Fury, 34, declined to agree a deal that would include a rematch with the Wbc champion on the proposed grounds of an immediate rematch with Usyk taking the larger share in the event he wins.
Usyk had already agreed a very uneven 70-30 purse split in Fury’s favour to make the fight happen.
However, the World Boxing Association eventually ordered a mandatory defence of Usyk’s bets with London born Daniel Dubois.
The Ring magazine now rank American former Wbc champion Deontey Wilder at No2 in the world, while AJ, coming off the back of his win over Jermaine Franklin, has been placed at No3.AJ defeated Jermaine Franklin by a unanimous decision in his return to the ring
British fighter Joe Joyce is viewed as the No4 best boxer in the world ahead of number five Andy Ruiz Jr, with Fury’s recent foe Dillian Whyte is placed at No6.
Despite holding the undisputed belts, Fury has generally been regarded as the best heavyweight in the world until his poor negotiation for the unification fight against Usyk which sparked suspicions in some boxing circles that the brit may be avoiding Usyk by making negotiations difficult.
The man self dubbed the gypsy king is still regarded as better than Deontey Wilder, whom he has beaten twice, and Anthony Joshua, who suffered consecutive defeats to Olegsander Usyk.
He last fought in December, when he defeated Londoner Derek Chisora, whom he has beaten twice already
Tyson Fury looses his spot to Olegsander Usyk Image: Getty
But Usyk, who has no blot on his record or reputation, and will be favourite to successfully defend his belt against Daniel Dubois, will stay the top pick for Ring Magazine until he is beaten.
Frank Warren has expressed his confidence that Dubois has what it takes to topple the talented and unbeaten Ukranian, who has now unified belts at both cruiserweight and heavyweight.
Fury’s team is still searching for an opponent, with Andy Ruiz named as a possible next opponent for the unbeaten Wbc champion.