{"id":507897,"date":"2026-04-01T23:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T23:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507897\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T23:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T23:04:09","slug":"anthony-joshua-ranked-2-despite-thin-recent-resume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507897\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Joshua Ranked #2 Despite Thin Recent Resume"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxingnews24.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add EBoxing News 24as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqLAgKIiZDQklTRmdnTWFoSUtFR0p2ZUdsdVoyNWxkM015TkM1amIyMG9BQVAB?ceid=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow Boxing News 24 on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The former unified champion has been placed at #2 by the WBC and #4 by the WBO, a position that usually signals a fighter closing in on a meaningful title opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>In the last seven years, Otto Wallin is probably Joshua\u2019s most \u201clegitimate\u201d boxing win. Wallin is a tough, durable southpaw, and AJ dismantled him. But even then, Wallin\u2019s stock was largely based on a fight with Tyson Fury from four years prior.<\/p>\n<p>Kubrat Pulev was 39 and had been stationary for years when Joshua fought him in 2020. Robert Helenius was a week\u2019s notice replacement who had just been erased by Wilder.<\/p>\n<p>Between these wins, he lost twice to Usyk and was brutally knocked out in five rounds by Daniel Dubois in late 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Usually, when a fighter is stopped by a contemporary like Dubois, they have to claw their way back up by beating other top-10 contenders (think Zhilei Zhang or Joseph Parker). It feels like the WBC and WBO are ranking the brand, not the boxer.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping AJ at #2 makes a potential Tyson Fury fight \u201cofficial\u201d for a title or a final eliminator. In a division where the top guys often fight once every 18 months, Joshua\u2019s willingness to get in the ring, even against questionable opposition, keeps the sanctioning bodies happy.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, his resume since 2019 looks like a very successful rebuilding project that forgot to actually finish the building. He\u2019s back in the title conversation because of who he is, not because of who he\u2019s beaten lately.<\/p>\n<p>If you strip away the \u201csuperstar\u201d buffer and the commercial bias of the sanctioning bodies, Joshua\u2019s actual standing in the heavyweight division looks much different.<\/p>\n<p>Based on his recent form, specifically the KO loss to Daniel Dubois and the nature of his wins over non-contenders, he belongs significantly lower than #2 or #4. In a merit-based system, Joshua should likely be ranked between #7 and #10.<\/p>\n<p>Olly Campbell is a boxing journalist who has covered the sport since 2014, providing ringside reporting and technical analysis of major bouts. His work focuses on fighter tendencies, tactical adjustments, and the details that shape high-level competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former unified champion has been placed at #2 by the WBC and #4 by the WBO, a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-507897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}