Anthony Joshua suffers world ranking blow as brutal decision made

Anthony Joshua has been dropped from the IBF heavyweight world rankings following a failed fight negotiation with Jake Paul.

Joshua hasn't stepped into the ring since his knockout defeat in five rounds by Daniel Dubois at Wembley last September. Instead of opting for an immediate rematch with his fellow Brit, Joshua chose to undergo elbow surgery. Meanwhile, Dubois lost his world title after being defeated by Oleksandr Usyk.

Joshua has now returned to training and had been negotiating a heavyweight clash with YouTuber Paul set for early 2026. However, Paul recently revealed he will be fighting Gervonta Davis in a contentious exhibition match this November, casting uncertainty over a potential bout with Joshua.

The British boxer has now been removed from the IBF rankings where he was previously positioned at sixth. Usyk remains the champion while Derek Chisora and Efe Ajagba complete the top three, reports All Out Fighting. Moses Itauma is fifth after his victory over Dillian Whyte last month, while Dubois is seventh.

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It's unlikely that Joshua will make a return to the ring this year, with a comeback fight scheduled for January or February. "I don't think there's any value in us saying it will be in December. He's been travelling about a bit but he's back in training following an elbow operation," stated his promoter Eddie Hearn.

"But these big fights take time and every AJ event is a massive event. It was well publicised about the meetings that took place in Ghana over the last couple of weeks. There has been an offer to do a fight there and I think it would be incredible for AJ to fight in Africa.

"When you are doing site deals a lot of it depends on when the host wants to stage the show. So, if Ghana comes back and says they'd like to go in January-February, then that's the offer. I don't think there's a rush, albeit he has been out of the ring for almost a year now.

"Any fight he has next though is likely to be a warm-up fight for that 'roll the dice' fight. We hope, in an ideal world, that is Tyson Fury. If not, it will be against one of the top five heavyweights."

Regarding maintaining Paul's aspirations of battling Joshua, Hearn continued: "I had a long call with Nakisa [Bidarain] They want to do the AJ fight after Gervonta. I explained to Nakisa that if Jake Paul gets chinned by Gervonta Davis we can't fight you, mate. I know it's an exhibition so that probably won't happen but we have to wait and see what happens there first.

"But when you look at the current heavyweight picture we can't really turn down a Jake Paul fight because it's easier than all the other warm-up fights out there and it's three times the money."