British heavyweight boxing dominance: Seven UK fighters in top 10

British heavyweights have seized control of boxing's glamour division following Oleksandr Usyk's decision to relinquish the WBA, IBF and WBC titles. Seven fighters from the UK now sit in top-10 positions across the four major sanctioning bodies, with Daniel Dubois holding the WBO strap and Tyson Fury ranked number one with the WBC.

The BBC reports that Fabio Wardley sits fourth in the WBO rankings after losing to Dubois in May, while rising star Moses Itauma, two-time unified champion Anthony Joshua, and British titlist Richard Riakporhe round out the British contingent. Germany's Agit Kabayel has been elevated to WBC champion, but his promotional ties to Queensberry open a path for UK challengers to pursue that belt.

How GB Boxing created heavyweight factory

Sheffield's GB Boxing programme has become the engine behind Britain's heavyweight surge. Joshua won Olympic gold there as a relative novice, while Joe Joyce claimed silver at Rio 2016 and Frazer Clarke bronze at Tokyo 2020. Performance director Robert McCracken told the BBC the programme gives fighters elite-level experience before they turn professional. "They've encountered really good fighters in training camps on different continents around the world," McCracken said. "By the time they turn professional, if they do the Olympic cycles at GB, I feel they're far better prepared."

Promoter Frank Warren, who guides five of the seven ranked British heavyweights at Queensberry, credited strategic planning for the boom. "It was something we targeted," Warren told the outlet. "When we went to do a TV deal back in 2016, I told them we were going to build a big heavyweight stable." Warren said he signed Fury within months of that deal, despite widespread scepticism about the former champion's comeback from inactivity and weight gain.

The American heavyweight pipeline has dried up by contrast. No US fighter has held a world title in six years, since Deontay Wilder lost his WBC crown to Fury. Riddick Bowe was the last American undisputed champion in 1992. Warren said big athletes in the States gravitate to basketball and American football, sports that offer far greater financial reward than boxing. Jarrell Miller sits second in the WBA rankings despite doping violations, while Richard Torrez Jr's title hopes took a hit when he lost to Frank Sanchez in May.

Fury faces 46-year-old Mariusz Wach in Thailand on 25 July, with Joshua taking on Albanian Kristian Prenga in Saudi Arabia the same day. Both bouts are seen as tune-ups for a long-awaited Fury-Joshua showdown expected in November. Itauma, meanwhile, has been ordered to face Cuba's Sanchez for the vacant IBF title after meeting Croatia's Filip Hrgovic on 29 August.

Source: bbc.co.uk