Nigerian-born British heavyweight boxer, Anthony Joshua, has overtaken Tyson Fury in the latest WBC heavyweight rankings.

Anthony Joshua has now moved to number one in the WBC heavyweight rankings, while Tyson Fury has dropped from the first spot to the second spot.

The current undisputed heavyweight title holder, Oleksandr Usyk, is ranked the winner of the rankings.

Fury dropped one spot after losing his WBC heavyweight title to Usyk in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in May 2024.

While Fury suffered a massive defeat to the Ukrainian boxer, Anthony Joshua recorded successive victories against Francis Ngannou and Otto Wallin.

These two victories have qualified Joshua to contest for the vacant IBF title against Daniel Dubois in September.

Agit Kabayel who recently beat Frank Sanchez during one of the under-cards on the Fury vs Usyk bill in May, takes the third spot in the WBC rankings.

Zhilei Zhang who stunned Deontay Wilder with a knockout win earlier this year is the fourth-highest-ranked boxer in the world according to the WBC.

Nigerian heavyweight boxer, Efe Ajagba completes the top five list thanks to the WBC ‘silver’ trinket belt he is currently holding.

Jared Anderson is ranked 6th, Martin Bakole is ranked 7th, Sanchez 8th, Joe Joyce 9th, and Bakhodir Jalolov is ranked 10th in the WBC rankings.

Former Super Eagles head coach, Finidi George has opened up on why he resigned from the position.

Finidi submitted his resignation letter to the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, on Saturday.

The 53-year-old took the decision after the NFF announced it would hire a foreign technical adviser to tinker the team.

In a video posted on social media hours later, a former media officer of the Eagles, Colin Udoh, confirmed he had spoken to Finidi after his decision.

“Finidi confirmed to me that he resigned his position indeed,” Udoh said.

“The reason being that he met with the NFF on Thursday, and they had a very good conversation.

“They spoke about the things they need to do going forward and he (Finidi) asked if he will be back.

“At no point during that meeting did anyone tell him they were going to appoint a foreign technical adviser.

“The NFF board had met on Wednesday and made that decision. But it was when Findi landed in Port Harcourt after that meeting that someone called him and informed him. He (Finidi) had to park his car and read the link to see that it actually was true.

“So he waited for two days to see if anyone would contact him but nobody spoke to him. So he (Finidi) felt they didn’t want him anymore and so he decided to turn in his resignation.”

Former Super Eagles coach, Finidi George, on Sunday, reacted to the viral video of Victor Osimhen on social media, where he denied accusations of faking an injury to avoid participation in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Naija News had earlier reported that Osimhen, on Saturday, in an Instagram Live, disclosed that the claims about him staging an injury to skip national team duties were false.

In the video, Osimhen addressed some rumours linked to Finidi George, claiming that the former Enyimba gaffer said that he won’t beg him [Osimhen] to play for the Super Eagles.

Osimhen attacked the former Super Eagles coach, stating that he has lost respect for him.

The controversy prompted Nigerian sports journalist, Colin Udoh to seek clarification from both the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and Finidi George.

Udoh reached out to senior NFF officials, who confirmed that Finidi never accused Osimhen of feigning an injury.

Udoh also revealed that he reached out to Finidi, who refuted ever making such a statement and expected Osimhen to have handled the situation differently.

Udoh said on Instagram, “So I called a couple of people who were at that meeting between Finidi, the NFF, and the minister to find out if what is alleged to have been said was actually said, and so these people are usually very, very senior and reliable people and I was told categorically that Finidi did not say the things he’s alleged to have said.

“He did not say he wasn’t going to beg Osimhen. He did not say that Osimhem was not committed. in fact, he did confirm when he was asked about Osimhen’s absence that he called him from Germany, and that’s why he was excused.

“It was when the issue of player’s commitment was raised; that’s why he said he would not beg anybody to play for the Super Eagles, but he did not mention any player by name, specifically.

“And so, I also called Finidi himself to ask him if that was the case and he also confirmed to me that he never said any of those things.

“In fact, he corroborated what the other gentleman had told me and that he would have no reason to call out any player, whether in public or in private, and that he would address issues with the players themselves if there were any issues.

“And then, as soon as the video was brought to his attention, he said he reached out to Osimhen and let him know that one, he never said those things, and two, even if he had, Osimhen should have reached out to him first to find out if he did say, what he was alleged to have said, rather than going, public with such disrespect.”

Rwanda head coach, Thorsten Frannk Splitter, says he will be relying on Gernot Rohr for essential information to claim the scalp of the Super Eagles in their 2026 World Cup CAF Qualifying Group C match day 5 fixture on March 17, 2025, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

After four rounds of matches, Rwanda are surprisingly topping the group with seven points, the same as South Africa in second place due to an inferior goal difference, and the East Africans can now fancy their chances at maiden World Cup qualification by adding Nigeria to their conquest list.

Rohr led Benin to a historic 2-1 win over Nigeria at Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, on June 10, and Splitter feels the Franco-German, who coached Nigeria for almost six years before being appointed by Benin, is the right man to advise him on how to beat Nigeria.

“I am very sure we (me and Gernot Rohr) will have a phone call before; it may be two or three, and if he can tell me something, I will be stupid not to take it. For that, we will try to be in contact; if possible, we can help each other; for sure, we will do it,” the Belgian tactician told Brila FM on Saturday.

Rohr was carried shoulder-high by Cheetahs players after Jodel Dossou scored on 37 minutes to cancel out Raphael Onyedika’s 27th-minute opener for Nigeria, and Steve Mounié scored the decider three minutes into added time of the first half to give Benin their first victory against their illustrious neighbours in Ivory Coast.

Nigeria are stuck in fifth spot on the log with miserly three points in for matches, and the three-time African champions will look to revive qualification hopes when the series resumes early next year, which will see them host Zimbabwe on March 24 on the back of the Rwanda trip.

This will be under a new coach following the resignation of Finidi George on Saturday, June 15, shortly after the Nigeria Football Federation announced its decision to hire an expatriate technical adviser to boss him.