Mauricio Sulaiman has clarified why Tyson Fury fell below Anthony Joshua in the latest WBC rankings.

Fury lost his green and gold strap to Oleksandr Usyk during their four-belt shootout in May.

Tyson Fury lost his WBC title to Oleksandr Usyk last time outCredit: Getty

The Ukrainian slickster nearly stopped Fury in the ninth round en route to a tight split-decision win which led to him being crowned the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.

Given the close nature of the contest and Fury’s long reign as WBC title holder, many anticipated he would drop to No.1 in the major sanctioning body’s rankings when they were updated last week.

However, he was instead placed at No.2, one position behind British rival Joshua.

When asked why this was the case, Sulaiman told talkSPORT.com: “Tyson Fury in the previous rankings was the WBC heavyweight champion and Anthony Joshua has been the No.1 contender in the WBC rankings for several months.

“He has had two fights with knockout wins (Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou) and Tyson Fury was placed as No.2 by the ratings committee after his loss to Oleksandr Usyk.

“Champions do not always drop to No.1 in the rankings.”

Although Joshua is the WBC’s No.1 contender, he is not their mandatory challenger.

“We do not have a mandatory contender at this moment,” Sulaiman added.

Anthony Joshua is now ranked above the former WBC champion in the major sanctioning body’s ratingsCredit: GETTY

Mauricio Sulaiman insists former champions don’t always drop to No.1 in the WBC rankings no matter how long they have held the belt forCredit: Getty

“The WBC has the absolute authority to appoint a mandatory contender when they win a final eliminator bout or when they go through a process and get voted to be a mandatory contender.

“At this moment we have sanctioned the first Fury-Usyk fight and the rematch. Those are the two fights that were agreed at the last convention.

“The WBC has been proactive in keeping unified and undisputed champions and we do not try to find mandatory contenders just to have mandatory contenders.

“A mandatory contender should be the highest level opposition that a champion should have and we have been very clear in that respect.

“Why force a mandatory when you have a confirmed Fury and Usyk rematch?”

Below Joshua and Fury at No.3 in the ratings is Agit Kabayel, fresh off an impressive win over Frank Sanchez in a WBC eliminator bout on the Fury vs Usyk undercard.

Zhilei Zhang, Efe Ajagba, and Jared Anderson round off the top five with Martin Bakole, Sanchez, Joe Joyce and Bakhodir Jalolov coming in just behind.

Further down the list, Deontay Wilder has dropped to No.15 following his knockout loss to Zhang in June.

Meanwhile, Dillian Whyte has been re-included in the WBC rankings at No.17.