These are the top 10 British light-heavyweights in the world rankings right now
The light-heavyweights in Britain stole the show at the end of 2021, firstly with the brilliant Dan Azeez putting in one of the greatest performances of recent times to win the Lonsdale belt in November, then came Anthony Yarde surprising many with his renewed, improved and impressive tactics to avenge his loss to Lyndon Arthur in brutal fashion a couple of weeks later in December.
With Callum Johnson set to fight for the WBO World light-heavyweight title in January 2022, a win in New York could open an abundance of opportunities for the rest of the domestic division, who are already lining up for their shot, so with the queue increasing, BBN decided to end 2021 with an up-to-date list of the top 10 world-ranked 175-pounders from Britain.
#1 Joshua Buatsi
WBC #4 / WBA #2 / IBF #2 / WBO #5 / IBO #3 / TBRB #6 / The Ring #10 / BoxRec #8
'JB' takes the top spot for being ranked in all five governing bodies, which he aims to utilise in 2022 to gain a world shot.
#2 Callum Smith
WBC #2 / WBA #3 / WBO #6 / IBO #1 / TBRB #7 / The Ring #8 / BoxRec #1
Fresh from the super-middleweight division, where he conquered the world, 'Mundo' is now launching an assault on the light-heavy division, with the aim to become a two-weight world champion.
#3 Anthony Yarde
WBC #5 / IBF #9 / WBO #1 / IBO #9 / TBRB #9 / The Ring #9 / BoxRec #11
'The Beast from the East' is back where he belongs after avenging his latest defeat to domestic rival, Lyndon Arthur, taking his WBO No.1 raking in the process, which means he will be first in line to face the winner of Joe Smith Jr. vs Callum Johnson in the New Year.
#4 Lyndon Arthur
WBA #11 / IBF #3 / WBO #9 / IBO #6 / BoxRec #30
Lyndon Arthur may have lost his last fight, but with a top team – consisting of trainer Pat Barrett – behind him, he will learn and improve to return better than ever to continue his claim for a world title shot in 2022. His world rankings may decline slightly next month, when updated, already being forced to swap his WBO No.1 slot to Yarde, who was at No.9.
#5 Craig Richards
WBC #15 / WBA #9 / IBO #8 / BoxRec #12
'The Spider's' narrow defeat to unbeaten Russian WBA world champion Dmitry Bivol in May this year, losing by a single point on one scorecard, proved that he belongs at world level. He bounced back to claim the WBA International strap in October, which has put him back up into the top 10 with the WBA, so another successful defence could potentially force a rematch with the champion in 2022.
#6 Callum Johnson
IBF #6; WBO #7 / IBO #21 / BoxRec #24
Callum was 'The One' to land the world title challenge against WBO champion Joe Smith Jr., which takes place in mid-January in New York. Despite only being placed at seventh position, winning the WBO Global belt in April, followed by a successful defence in October, is how he earned his shot, which he plans to take with both hands. At 36, this is his second, and potentially last, chance of becoming a world champion.
#7 Dan Azeez
IBO #14 / BoxRec #29
The lad from Lewisham has done everything right in his 15-fight career so far, which includes winning the Southern Area title, followed by the English belt, and now he is the British light-heavyweight champion, in a fight where he performed out of his skin to win against Hosea Burton in seven rounds. The unbeaten Londoner has earned his nickname 'Super' and, although his chances of a world title crack are quite far away still, we can expect to see him either defending his Lonsdale belt to a highly-ranked Brit next or, if the pattern of his current career path is anything to go by, advancing to the European title, which is currently vacant.
#8 Rocky Fielding
WBA #8 / IBO #16 / BoxRec #19
Despite not fighting for two years, former world champion Rocky Fielding came back with a second-round stoppage in Dubai last month, where he now resides. The 34-year-old Liverpudlian is having one last roll of the dice, already picking up two wins since his world title defeat to Canelo in December 2018.
#9 Hosea Burton
WBC #24 / IBO #88 / BoxRec #44
Former British champion, Hosea Burton, has now lost two of his last three fights, both defeats were in championship contests, so he will be licking his wounds and working out his next move. 'The Hammer' is only 33 so has a few years left to achieve more in the sport, but his chances of success will lie at domestic level.
#10 Shakan Pitters
WBC #28 / IBO #33 / BoxRec #51
Birmingham boxer Shakan Pitters was flying in his career, when he breezed through three opponents in one night to win Ultimate Boxxer in 2018, then capturing the English title the followng year, then the British the year after. However, his first defence in December 2020 saw him stopped in the ninth round by Craig Richards, who went on to represent himself well in a world title fight soon after, so there's no shame in the loss. Three wins later, with a WBC International ranking title in the bag, the 32-year-old Brummie could climb the world rankings in the New Year and who knows where that could lead?
Other World-ranked light-heavyweights
Pawel August
WBC #23
Umar Sadiq
IBO #78
Matthew Tinker
IBO #82
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