First WBC bridgerweight rankings

By Rob Smith - 12/08/2020 - Comments

The World Boxing Council released their first WBC Bridgerweight rankings on Tuesday, and they look bad, filled with a lot of smaller heavyweights as one would expect.

The weight limit for the Bridgerweight division is 224 lbs, which allows a lot of smaller heavyweights a better chance to win a world title.

If they were to stay at heavyweight, their chances of capturing a world title are slim. However, the positive for the smaller heavyweights to stay in the heavyweight division is the money they would get if they were to get a title shot against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua or WBC champ Tyson Fury.

It’s unknown when the WBC will order a title fight for their new Bridgerweight champion, but based on their rankings, we’ll likely see #1 Oscar ‘Kaboom’ Rivas (26-1, 18 KOs) face #2 Ryad Merhy (29-1, 24 KOs) for the title.

First WBC bridgerweight rankings

The new WBC Bridgerweight division top 15

1. Oscar Rivas
2. Ryad Merhy
3. Kevin Lerena
4. Dmitry Kudryashov
5. Evgeny Romanov
6. Bryant Jennings
7. Artur Szpilka
8. Alen Babic
9. Joel Tambwe Djeko
10. Shigabudin Aliev
11. Marco Huck
12. Bilal Laggoune
13. Samuel Kadje
14. Rashid Kodzoev
15. Isaac Chamberlain

Rivas hasn’t said whether he’d choose to fight for the new Bridgerweight title. He’s currently ranked #8 by the WBC at heavyweight, and you’d have to believe that he’s better off trying to get a title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

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The money Rivas can make facing Fury would be a small fortune, and it’s worth it for him to go in that direction.

In Rivas’ last fight, he came close to beating Dillian Whyte in July 2019. Although Whyte won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision, he was knocked down in the 9th and badly hurt in the 12th round.

Rivas hurt Whyte with a body shot in the 12th, resulting in the referee Victor Loughlin giving Dillian time to recover because he thought it was a low blow. If the referee hadn’t stopped the action, Rivas might have either knocked Whyte out or dropped him.

The Belgium native Ryad Merhy has fought largely unknown opposition for the majority of his seven-year professional career. In 2018, Merhy stepped it up against
Arsen Goulamirian and was knocked out in the 11th round. Since that fight, Merhy has returned to facing obscure opposition like he’d been doing.

Some of these names are familiar to hardcore boxing fans, especially Marco Huck, Artur Szpilka, and Bryant Jennings.

One problem with the WBC creating a new division is that the other sanctioning bodies haven’t followed them yet. Unless the IBF, WBA, and WBO create a Bridgerweight class, the WBC will be going it alone.

First WBC bridgerweight rankings

What boxing doesn’t need is for it to be compartmentalized. It will be interesting to see if the WBC will keep the Bridgerweight if the other sanctioning bodies ignore it and if the fighters don’t want to compete for their belts.