By Tim Royner: Deontay Wilder has been demoted to #3 in Ring Magazine’s updated heavyweight rankings, below #2 Dillian Whyte. The Ring Magainze champion is Tyson Fury, deservedly so, following his 7th round knockout win over WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) last Saturday night in their rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Wilder will get a chance to get pushed back to the top of Ring Magainze’s rankings when he faces Fury in a rematch. On Monday, Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) revealed that he plans on executing the rematch clause that he has in his contract to force a third fight with Fury in the “summertime.”
Wilder’s loss to Fury, which he blames on his legs being weakened and being hit with rabbit punches all night, arguably shouldn’t see him demoted BELOW Whyte.
The move by Ring Magazine to drop Wilder so far down will be seen as controversial. He may have lost to Fury in a one-sided manner, but he’s clearly a better fighter than Whyte, who has looked poor in his last 4 fights.
What’s surprising is that Ring Magazine has opted not to keep Wilder in the top 3 spots in their rankings.
Ring Magazine’s updated heavyweight rankings
Tyson Fury champion
1. Anthony Joshua
2. Dillian Whyte
3. Deontay Wilder
4. Luis Ortiz
5. Andy Ruiz Jr.
6. Alexander Povetkin
7. Joseph Parker
8. Michael Hunter
9. Adam Kownacki
10. Oscar Rivas
Wilder being dropped so far down in the Ring Magazine ranking doesn’t look good. If he’d been beaten by a lesser heavyweight instead of a quality guy in Fury, then it would make sense for Wilder to be demoted to below the likes of Joshua and Whyte.
Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) is a good heavyweight, but he’s looked flawed and not elite level in his 4 fights. In Whyte’s last outing, he was forced to labor hard to defeat 40-year-old journeyman Mariusz Wach by a 10 round decision on December 7 in Saudi. In Whyte’s before that, he barely beat Oscar Rivas.
Should Wilder be above Whyte in rankings?
Ring Magazine’s likely rationale for having Whyte ranked above Wilder is the fact that he holds the interim WBC heavyweight title. Dillian has got the minor-WBC belt after beating Oscar Rivas by a 12 round decision last July. Perhaps Ring Magainze feels that it would look peculiar for Wilder to be rated above the interim WBC champion Whyte.
Just going by the way Whyte and Wilder have both performed in their last five fights, Deontay looks like the better fighter. Whyte was on the verge of losing to Chisora in their rematch when he scored a come from behind 11th round knockout. Chisora lost his cool when he was penalized in the 11th for the use of his elbow, and started swinging wildly. Whyte capitalized on Chisora losing his temper by knocking him out with a big shot.
Wilder’s legs were weakened by costume
“By the third round, I had no legs. I was completely done. My legs were gone. I had to step into survival mode very early,” said Wilder to ESPN.com.