THE MYSTERY MAN
The WBA stoop to new low with Joe Fournier ranking, writes Elliot Worsell
A Londoner makes it into the WBA top 15, but nobody knows who he is
LOOKING for accuracy and consistency in the rankings of a sanctioning body is a bit like looking for a decent ringside judge in Nevada. It’s frustrating, exhausting and pointless.
The latest set of rankings to perplex those accustomed to being perplexed was issued by the World Boxing Association (WBA) on December 31. Belated Christmas gifts for one and all, the rankings consist of a plethora of boxers who have either failed drug tests, boast zero notable wins, or require a Google search to help put a face to name. While, admittedly, this caused confusion in the Boxing News office, it also made for a fun game, one that arrived a little too late to be utilised during the festive period: in short, scan the rankings, as you would, say, a list of the 100 greatest films of all time, and count the number of boxers you’re able to recognise (without consulting Boxrec).
Of course, a ridiculous rankings system isn’t a quirk exclusive to the WBA. They’ve been a beacon of absurdity for years, sure, but so too have the other sanctioning bodies, all of whom bend and rewrite their own rules to suit certain boxers and promoters, and, in doing so, bemuse and exasperate anyone hoping to use rankings to gauge a fighter’s progress or, indeed, understand a division’s hierarchy.
What separates the WBA from the pack this time, though, and what makes their January rankings all the more galling – the worst of an awful bunch – is the harebrained decision to place lightheavyweight Joe Fournier, ‘nightclub entrepreneur’ and 8-0 fighting neophyte, at number 11. I’ll repeat. Joe Fournier, a 34-year-old who has beaten only two opponents with winning records, and who, in 2016, failed a performanceenhancing drug test (for sibutramine), is rated as the 11th best 175lb boxer on the planet.
It gets worse, too. Hours after the release of the rankings, Fournier took to Twitter to announce the news, before declaring he was now, according to the WBA, the top-rated lightheavyweight in Britain. Cue a collective groan and widespread derision. And though I can’t say for certain, it’s likely Frimley’s Jake Ball, ranked at 14, and by Fournier’s logic the number two lightheavyweight in the UK, groaned the loudest.
“People were asking me about it on social media,” Ball, 25, told Boxing News. “They asked if I would fight him if it was offered and I said, yes, I’d fight him tomorrow. I’m a fighter. I won’t turn anybody down.”
He should, however, absolutely turn down a fight with Joe Fournier if it’s ever offered. Not for his own good, but for
‘I’D FIGHT HIM TOMORROW. I WON’T TURN ANYBODY DOWN’
‘HE’S APPARENTLY GOT A BIT OF MONEY AND IS A NIGHTCLUB OWNER’
Fournier’s. Take that fight – and this goes for every light-heavyweight in the WBA top 15 – and it not only sets a worrying precedent but also puts an ill-equipped novice, with only two years of pro experience, in grave danger.
“It would be a very bad night for him and that’s why I can’t see it ever happening,” Ball, 11-1, said. “I can’t really talk about someone I don’t know, and I definitely can’t imagine fighting someone I don’t know. He’s apparently got a bit of money and is a nightclub owner. I’ve seen that he hangs around David
Haye quite a lot. But I haven’t seen him fight.
“Boxing seems like it’s a bit of a hobby for him whereas I’ve boxed since I was seven years of age. It has been my life since I was a boy. It’s all I know. Fair play to him, he has come into it late, done a bit of white collar (boxing) and thinks he’s in now. But you can’t be saying you are the best when you haven’t proven it and you aren’t willing to fight the best.
“I saw a post from Fournier saying he wanted to fight Badou Jack in Vegas. It’s mad. I’m ranked at 14 and you wouldn’t see me calling out people like that. He will call out Jack but I guarantee he wouldn’t fight me. It baffles me.”
The worst part about Fournier’s ranking, aside from the fact it is wrong, irresponsible and, quite frankly, dangerous, is that it shines a light on the comedy value of the rest of the WBA’S latest offering.
Naturally, there are corkers from top to bottom, but let’s focus on the downright oddity that is the WBA heavyweight top 15, for in here you will find Manuel Charr positioned as the ‘regular’ champion – an oddity, this title, all of its own – and beneath him
BJ Flores, the cruiserweight chewed up and spat out by Tony Bellew, at nine, unproven mystery men like Trevor Bryan, at five, and Otto Wallin, at 11, and Kyotaro Fujimoto, at 15, as well as the likes of Alexander Povetkin, at number one, Fres Oquendo, at two,
Dillian Whyte, at seven, Guillermo Jones, at 10, and Lucas Browne, at 13, all of whom have been popped for performance-enhancing drugs.
Maybe that’s a heavyweight problem – or a boxing problem – rather than a WBA problem, but the inclusion of boxers who have failed drug tests becomes all the more bizarre in light of the WBA’S decision to drop Luis Ortiz from their rankings and subsequently scupper a November 4 fight with WBC (World Boxing Council) heavyweight champion
Deontay Wilder. (Ortiz, by the way, still finds himself ranked by the WBC and is again on course to challenge Wilder.) One rule for one cheat, another rule for many others? That appears the case.
Note: Boxing News reached out to the WBA for an explanation and some common sense, but found neither.