WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has confirmed that Jake Paul will earn a world cruiserweight ranking with the major sanctioning body if beats Tommy Fury on February 26. The pair square off in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia in a 185lb catchweight contest – 15 lbs below the cruiserweight limit.
Sulaiman previously floated the idea around ahead of Paul’s clash with Anderson Silva but his recommendation was denied by the WBC rankings committee. When asked why he made the request at the time he informed Express Sport that Paul would have rightfully earned a ranking by beating Silva, who had defeated former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in a previous bout.
But now the request has been accepted in the weeks leading up to Paul’s next fight with 8-0 pro, Fury. A statement released by the WBC today, read: “WBC President, Mauricio Sulaiman, confirms that if Jake Paul wins his upcoming bout against Tommy Fury, The WBC ratings committee will rank him in the Cruiserweight division.
“Jake Paul has been close to The WBC for several years, starting with the first event promoted in the UK when his brother, Logan, fought KSI; On that night Jake won The WBC amateur belt in the undercard fights.
On the same card, former super-middleweight and light-heavyweight world champion Badou Jack takes on WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu for the Congolese man’s green belt. The event, put on by Skills Challenge Entertainment, will also include a number of local fighters from the Kingdom including Ziyad Almaayouf, Salman Hamada, Ziad Al-Majrashi and Saudi Arabia’s first female boxer Ragad Al Naimi.
Meanwhile, popular content creators Adam Saleh and Evil Hero will do battle on the bill as well.
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