The long-awaited fight between polarizing YouTuber turned professional boxer Jake Paul, and scion of the famous Fury boxing family, Tommy Fury, has drawn attention of one of boxing’s main governing or sanctioning bodies; the WBC. The pair are slated to fight each other on February 26 at the Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

In a press statement released on February 15, the WBC – currently run by Mauricio Sulaiman, son of departed founder of the organization, Jose Sulaiman – clearly stated their intention to rank Jake Paul (6-0, 4 KO’s) amongst the top 40 of their official rankings of the Cruiserweight division, if he manages to win in his fight with Tommy Fury (8-0, 4 KO’s).

“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.” The press release stated.

“Jake has dedication and respect to the sport and The WBC will not tolerate discrimination against anyone, he deserves the opportunities that any other boxer has.

“He demonstrated punching power and improved skills as well as a solid chin, Tommy Fury represents a clear challenge to Paul in a battle of two undefeated professional boxers.”

This news comes paired with a clear endorsement by Mauricio Sulaiman who further seemed to explain in the press release that Jake Paul’s relationship with the WBC – which had been built since 2018 when his older brother, Logan Paul, fought fellow YouTube star KSI – played a large role in the decision to reward Jake with an official ranking position.

“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.” The statement reads.

There is, however, some confusion that reigns regarding the WBC’s decision. Though Paul has convincingly beat all of his former opponents, it would only logically make sense that his current opponent would also be given the same opportunity to become officially ranked. However, the statement clearly only indicates Jake Paul would receive an official ranking.

There are also doubts as to the legitimacy of WBC’s decision given their proclivity to corruption, and the fact that Paul’s opponents would not be offered the same status as Paul. It is also noteworthy that Paul’s opponents themselves, including Tommy Fury, have not had the experience or skillset needed to warrant such a position. By that extension, Paul beating those same opponents would not mean he is good enough to be in those rankings.

Concerns also float around what would happen if Jake Paul actually fought any of the top 40 within the WBC Cruiserweight rankings. Co-main eventing his headliner fight with Tommy Fury are Ilunga Makabu (29-2, 25 KO’s) and Badou Jack (27-3-3, 16 KO’s), a current world champion and a former world champion respectively, who have a combined experience of thirty years in the sport of boxing.

Paul’s experience includes no less than four debutants, a rematch with one of the debutants in Tyrone Woodley, and a bout with a 47-year old former MMA star in Anderson Silva (3-2, 2 KO’s). Though his last fight might have been credible enough to deem him a legitimate professional boxer, it is highly dangerous for him to be included anywhere close to the top 40 rankings given the wide disparity in experience and skill that the top boxers possess, especially those in the top 100 of other official rankings of sanctioning bodies or record-keeping organizations such as BoxRec.

Tommy Fury himself, is inexperienced and unseasoned as a professional and would have needed perhaps a proper double-digit number of fights to be considered for the WBC’s official ranking boards. His own record is slightly underwhelming given his background coming from a boxing family, and him being the younger brother of one of the most highly-recognized boxers in the current era, Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24 KO’s), but far from rare as most of the boxers that have similar records have fought the same or worse level of opponents.

Though Paul and Fury are both talented young men in their own right, they are just two of many boxers who have unbeaten records and a high KO ratio before reaching their tenth fight. If any of those other boxers would receive the same opportunity, as the WBC presented Paul, when beating a fellow unbeaten prospect, there would still be concerns if they were positioned within the sanctioning body’s official rankings.

Weight classes and rankings are there to prevent potential mismatches and fatal injuries when a boxer steps into the ring against a much better opponent. The WBC’s motive to offer Paul a ranking does not seem one borne out of a genuine care for boxers and competition in the sport, but perhaps created out of the personal relationship they have with Paul or the financial benefits that can be garnered through Paul given his ability to draw large crowds. By handing or creating a title for Jake Paul, the WBC could receive a portion of his earnings through their sanctioning fees which are paid to them by any of the champions that hold their belts.

Whatever the reasoning, professional boxing is seeing clear signs of decay with the way certain decisions are made. Coincidentally, the WBC has been at the forefront of many of these decisions, best illustrated with the recent news of them considering a title of a lower weight class to be made available for a fight at a higher weight class. This is also the second time the WBC has attempted to put Jake Paul into the rankings after first declaring the same before Paul’s proposed fight with Hasim Rahman Jr. (12-2, 6 KO’s) was canceled.

One can only hope, how far the WBC will go before someone will get seriously hurt in their attempts to draw attention or increase their financial interests.

UPDATE February 22, 2023:

WBC’s president, Mauricio Sulaiman, has clarified the ranking procedure of his organization and explained that the winner of the fight between Jake Paul and Tommy Fury would be ranked, rather than just Paul. That means that if Tommy Fury would potentially win in his fight with Paul, would also be given a top 40 ranking.

The news is an obvious spin from the official announcement the WBC has made prior to the match when they announced that Jake Paul would receive a ranking if he won. There had been no word previously of Fury gaining the same opportunity as Paul until the WBC president revealed this news days after the first announcement. In addition to the winner now potentially gaining a top 40 ranking, Sulaiman has also indicated that depending on the type of win, the winner would even gain a top 15 ranking – which would make them eligible for a world title opportunity, i.e. if the victor wins by an impressive early knockout.