Francis Ngannou has been ranked 10th in the heavyweight boxing division by the World Boxing Council (WBC) following last month’s split-decision loss to Tyson Fury.
Former mixed martial artist Ngannou made his professional boxing debut in a non-title bout against the undefeated WBC heavyweight champion in Riyadh on October 28, suffering a narrow split-decision defeat.
Ngannou went close to a historic upset after recording a third-round knockdown of Fury, with one judge scoring the fight 95-94 in his favour. That was overruled by the other two judges, who scored it 96-93 and 95-94 for the Gypsy King.
The Cameroonian-French 37-year-old took the decision to move into the ring after failing to agree a new contract with the UFC, who released their then-heavyweight champion in January.
Francis Ngannou did an outstanding job against the WBC Heavyweight Champion and the WBC Board of Governors has agreed to rank him as No. 10 in the Heavyweight division.@francisngannou #wbcboxing #wbcuzbekistan23 pic.twitter.com/mXjhiRS9Vt
— World Boxing Council (@WBCBoxing) November 15, 2023
At this week’s 2023 WBC convention, the governing body took the rare decision to rank a boxer with no professional wins as a result of his efforts against Fury.
Having escaped with a victory despite producing arguably the weakest display of his career against Ngannou, Fury is now set to face unified WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
On Wednesday, Fury’s promoter Bob Arum told Sky Sports a deal for the eagerly anticipated unification bout had been struck, with the fighters due to make an announcement later this week.
