Francis Ngannou is still recovering from his devastating knockout loss to Anthony Joshua and how has had some more bad news about his ranking from the WBC.
Ngannou’s record now sits at 0 and 2 having only started professional boxing in the middle of last year. The former UFC champion secured an unlikely bout with the Lineal and WBC world champion Tyson Fury but very much proved he was worthy of it.
He knocked Fury down in the third and ran him close over 10 rounds, only narrowly losing out on points. He picked up a Top 10 ranking with the WBC as a result, despite many people disagreeing.
With that one in the bank and full of confidence, his next match-up was with former two-time world heavyweight champion Joshua on March 8 out in Saudi Arabia.
That one didn’t go so well, with Ngannou put down once in the first round, again early in the second, and then he was knocked out cold before the end of the same round by a huge right hand from Joshua, surely ending all hopes of a further career in the ring.
Since then he has spoken of being tired and not remembering anything after the first knockdown, and now he has been hit with a rankings update from the WBC.
The French-Cameroonian has dropped all the way down to 25th, just behind Brit Frazer Clarke and his former sparring partner Carlos Takam.
This will be a cold dose of reality for Ngannou who must now decide on what he will do next.