Updated: November 11, 2026

The heavyweight division finally feels like it is moving again.

Oleksandr Usyk still sits at the top of the Fight Week rankings, but Daniel Dubois is beginning to make the distance between No. 1 and No. 2 considerably smaller. Dubois’ October rematch with Fabio Wardley was supposed to tell us whether their violent first meeting had exposed weaknesses in the WBO champion or simply hardened him for another run at heavyweight supremacy.

Dubois answered that question in less than two rounds.

He dropped Wardley just 17 seconds into the rematch and never allowed him to recover, forcing the stoppage at 2:21 of the second round. Five months earlier, Dubois had needed almost 11 rounds and had climbed off the canvas twice to beat the same opponent. This time, there was no drama. There was only domination.

That performance doesn’t put Dubois ahead of Usyk yet. Usyk remains unbeaten, remains The Ring heavyweight champion and owns two victories over Dubois. But among the heavyweights trying to inherit the division when Usyk finally leaves, Dubois has created separation.

Behind them, Agit Kabayel and Filip Hrgovic hold major championships, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are finally preparing to settle their long-running rivalry, and several contenders are fighting for position in a division that could look completely different by the start of 2027.

Here is the Fight Week Heavyweight Top 10 for November 2026.

Rank	Fighter	Record	Previous	Status
1	Oleksandr Usyk	25-0, 16 KOs	1	Ring Champion
2	Daniel Dubois	24-3, 23 KOs	2	WBO Champion
3	Agit Kabayel	27-0, 19 KOs	3	WBC Champion
4	Filip Hrgovic	21-1, 16 KOs	4	IBF Champion
5	Tyson Fury	36-2-1, 25 KOs	5	Contender
6	Frank Sanchez	26-1, 19 KOs	7	IBF No. 1 Contender
7	Murat Gassiev	34-2, 27 KOs	9	WBA Champion
8	Anthony Joshua	30-4, 27 KOs	8	Contender
9	Efe Ajagba	21-1-1, 15 KOs	NR	Contender
10	Moses Itauma	14-1, 12 KOs	10	Contender

1. Oleksandr Usyk

There is a temptation to move Dubois to No. 1 after what we saw against Wardley.

Fight Week isn’t doing it.

Usyk remains the heavyweight standard because rankings cannot be based only on who looked best most recently. The Ukrainian remains undefeated and has already defeated Dubois twice. He also spent years systematically solving the best heavyweights available to him after becoming undisputed champion at cruiserweight.

Usyk vacated the IBF, WBA and WBC championships in June but retained The Ring heavyweight championship. His most recent victory came against Rico Verhoeven in May, improving him to 25-0.

At 39, however, Usyk’s position is becoming increasingly unusual. He is no longer collecting sanctioning-body belts, and the champions underneath him are beginning to establish their own identities.

For the first time in a while, the heavyweight division is preparing for life after Usyk.

Until he loses or retires, though, Fight Week still considers him the best heavyweight in boxing.

2. Daniel Dubois

Daniel Dubois may have produced the most important heavyweight performance of the fall.

The first Wardley fight proved Dubois could survive adversity. He was dropped twice, absorbed heavy punishment and still found a way to break Wardley down and stop him late.

The rematch showed something different.

Dubois didn’t survive anything because he never allowed Wardley into the fight. The opening right hand produced a knockdown after just 17 seconds, and the champion systematically dismantled him from there. Wardley’s corner finally threw in the towel during the second round.

That result improves Dubois to 24-3 with 23 knockouts and strengthens an increasingly impressive résumé that includes victories over Anthony Joshua, Filip Hrgovic and Wardley twice.

There is also an important stylistic development occurring.

Dubois used to look like a fighter whose enormous physical tools could disappear when a fight became uncomfortable. The current version looks more composed, more confident and far more willing to impose himself immediately.

The Ring currently rates Dubois as its No. 1 contender beneath Usyk. Fight Week agrees.

And the gap between those two positions is shrinking.

3. Agit Kabayel

Agit Kabayel remains perhaps the most underappreciated heavyweight champion in boxing.

The undefeated German doesn’t generate the international attention of Fury, Joshua or Dubois, but his résumé has quietly become difficult to dismiss. Kabayel has stopped Zhilei Zhang, Frank Sanchez and Arslanbek Makhmudov, and his victory over Damian Knyba in January has aged well.

Kabayel was elevated from interim champion to full WBC champion when Usyk vacated the belt during the summer. He will finally make his first defense against unbeaten Nelson Hysa on November 28 in Düsseldorf.

Hysa is dangerous on paper at 25-0 with 23 knockouts, but this is also the type of fight Kabayel is expected to win if he truly belongs among the division’s elite.

What Kabayel needs afterward is not another stay-busy opponent.

He needs Dubois, Hrgovic, Fury or another heavyweight who can settle how good he actually is.

At No. 3, Fight Week believes he has earned that opportunity.

4. Filip Hrgovic

Filip Hrgovic completely changed the trajectory of his career by beating Moses Itauma.

Going into their August fight, Itauma was being discussed as the future of the heavyweight division and entered as a massive betting favorite. Early in the fight, that prediction appeared justified. Itauma was faster, landed clean shots and even scored a knockdown.

Hrgovic refused to disappear.

He kept applying pressure, weathered Itauma’s early success and eventually took advantage as the younger fighter’s conditioning deteriorated. Hrgovic stopped him in the ninth round and captured the vacant IBF heavyweight championship.

That victory remains one of the most meaningful heavyweight results of 2026.

Now Hrgovic wants revenge.

Dubois stopped him in 2024, and after watching Dubois destroy Wardley last month, Hrgovic publicly called for a unification rematch.

That fight makes enormous sense.

Dubois has the WBO belt. Hrgovic has the IBF belt. They already have unfinished business.

A second meeting would tell us far more than another round of voluntary defenses.

5. Tyson Fury

Tyson Fury remains difficult to rank.

His résumé still gives him an advantage over most of the fighters beneath him, and his return victory over Mariusz Wach at least restored some activity following the back-to-back defeats to Usyk.

But December 11 is the date that really matters.

After roughly 15 years of discussion, Fury and Anthony Joshua are finally scheduled to fight at Principality Stadium in Cardiff. The matchup will be contested for the vacant WBA “Super” heavyweight championship.

At their respective peaks, Fury-Joshua would have decided undisputed heavyweight supremacy.

It doesn’t carry that meaning anymore.

That doesn’t make it irrelevant.

Fury is 38. Joshua is 37. Both have already accomplished enough that their places in British boxing history are secure. But the winner could also become a world champion again and place himself directly into the Dubois-Kabayel-Hrgovic championship picture.

For Fury, this is much more than a nostalgia fight.

It may be his final opportunity to prove he still belongs among the division’s elite.

6. Frank Sanchez

Frank Sanchez moves up one position this month, but largely because Wardley has fallen out.

The Cuban heavyweight has rebuilt himself after his stoppage defeat to Kabayel and remains one of the division’s more technically polished fighters. He doesn’t possess the promotional profile of Fury or Joshua, but his combination of timing, movement and counterpunching makes him a difficult matchup.

More importantly, Sanchez is now the IBF’s No. 1-ranked contender beneath champion Hrgovic.

That creates an obvious path.

Hrgovic would prefer a unification fight with Dubois, but if that doesn’t materialize, Sanchez could find himself in position for a mandatory challenge.

Fight Week still needs to see Sanchez beat another genuine Top 10 heavyweight before pushing him much higher.

At No. 6, the opportunity is there.

7. Murat Gassiev

Murat Gassiev makes the biggest numerical move this month, climbing from No. 9 to No. 7.

Gassiev remains something of a forgotten figure in the heavyweight discussion because so much of his reputation was built at cruiserweight. But he is now 34-2 with 27 knockouts and owns the WBA heavyweight championship.

His July defense against Peter Kadiru was methodical rather than spectacular. Gassiev broke his opponent down with heavy body work and combinations before forcing the stoppage in the sixth round.

The problem remains opposition.

At 33, Gassiev is no longer a developing heavyweight who can spend another year taking incremental steps. If he genuinely wants to establish himself among the division’s best, he needs one of them in the opposite corner.

Hrgovic has already mentioned him as a possible unification opponent.

Gassiev should welcome that conversation.

8. Anthony Joshua

Anthony Joshua doesn’t move this month, but his ranking could change dramatically in exactly one month.

Joshua returned with a stoppage victory over Kristian Prenga in July, but nothing he could have done in that fight would carry the significance of what awaits him on December 11.

Tyson Fury.

The matchup has hovered over British boxing for more than a decade. They should probably have fought when they controlled most of the heavyweight championship belts. They didn’t.

Now they finally will.

Joshua still possesses elite heavyweight power, but his recent career has also demonstrated how small the margin for error becomes at this level. He has been stopped by Dubois and twice beaten by Usyk.

A victory over Fury changes the narrative immediately.

It would make Joshua a world champion again and could move him several places in Fight Week’s December or January rankings.

A loss would raise a much different question.

How much is left?

9. Efe Ajagba

New Entry

Efe Ajagba finally gets his opportunity inside the Fight Week Top 10.

The Nigerian heavyweight has spent much of 2026 trying to secure a meaningful opponent after stopping former champion Charles Martin in February. The frustration has been obvious. Ajagba has publicly complained that ranked heavyweights have been unwilling to face him.

The Ring currently rates Ajagba sixth among its heavyweight contenders, which is actually considerably more aggressive than Fight Week’s placement.

We’re taking the more conservative approach.

Ajagba has power, physical size and a respectable résumé, but he needs a defining victory before climbing into the upper half of the rankings.

Wardley’s departure creates the opening.

Ajagba takes it at No. 9.

10. Moses Itauma

Fight Week is not abandoning Moses Itauma because he lost one fight.

In fact, the Hrgovic defeat may ultimately become one of the most important nights of his career.

Itauma looked every bit like the future superstar early. He hurt Hrgovic, scored a second-round knockdown and appeared to be in control. Then the fight became difficult.

Hrgovic survived, kept pressing and forced Itauma to operate deeper into a fight than he had ever been required to go. Eventually, the young heavyweight faded and Hrgovic stopped him in Round 9.

That loss exposed a weakness.

It did not erase the talent.

Itauma is only 21 years old. He remains exceptionally fast for a heavyweight, punches with genuine power and has far more time to develop than virtually anybody else on this list.

The mistake now would be rushing him straight back into another championship-level fight.

Rebuild him properly.

If that happens, No. 10 could eventually look ridiculously low.

Biggest Mover: Murat Gassiev

Gassiev climbs two places, from No. 9 to No. 7.

Part of that movement results from Wardley’s departure, but Gassiev’s championship status and continued activity also deserve recognition.

The next step must be a major opponent.

Another routine defense will not move him much further.

Biggest Statement: Daniel Dubois

Dubois doesn’t move numerically because he was already No. 2.

But nobody strengthened his position more.

The second Wardley fight eliminated the questions created by their first meeting. Dubois didn’t struggle. He didn’t have to rally. He didn’t have to survive.

He destroyed him.

That is why the heavyweight conversation increasingly feels like Usyk at No. 1 and Dubois waiting immediately behind him.

New Entry: Efe Ajagba

Ajagba enters at No. 9.

He has spent months just outside the Fight Week rankings and now benefits from Wardley’s fall.

Getting into the Top 10 is one thing.

Staying there will require a significant fight.

Dropped Out: Fabio Wardley

Fabio Wardley falls from No. 6 completely out of the Top 10.

That is a severe drop, but two consecutive losses to Dubois have to matter.

The first defeat was competitive enough that Wardley retained considerable credibility. He dropped Dubois twice and forced him into a prolonged battle before eventually being stopped.

The rematch offered no such consolation.

Wardley was dropped almost immediately and stopped in the second round.

He remains dangerous and could absolutely return.

For now, however, Fight Week cannot justify keeping him ahead of fighters who are winning.

On the Bubble

Fabio Wardley immediately becomes the first fighter outside the Top 10. One strong comeback victory could put him straight back in.

Justis Huni continues rebuilding after his first defeat and remains a legitimate contender. Bakhodir Jalolov is undefeated and currently ranked fourth by the IBF, but still needs the marquee professional victory that converts potential into proven heavyweight standing.

Richard Torrez Jr. remains young enough to develop into a serious factor, while Deontay Wilder still possesses the type of power that makes him dangerous even late in his career.

There is also a larger issue looming over everyone on the bubble: the heavyweight division finally has champions who may begin fighting one another.

That means opportunities can arrive quickly.

Fight Week Fight to Watch: Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua

There is no other choice.

December 11 in Cardiff.

Fury-Joshua is several years later than boxing wanted it, but the stakes remain significant. The vacant WBA “Super” title will be on the line, and the winner will immediately become part of the championship puzzle alongside Dubois, Kabayel and Hrgovic.

There is also something more personal at stake.

For years, British boxing argued about who would win this fight when both men were champions.

Now we finally get an answer.

It just comes at a very different moment in their careers.

The Heavyweight Picture Is Finally Taking Shape

For much of the Usyk era, the division revolved around one question: Who can beat Oleksandr Usyk?

The answer so far has been nobody.

But the next generation is beginning to create its own stories.

Dubois looks better than ever. Kabayel remains unbeaten. Hrgovic resurrected his career by upsetting Itauma. Fury and Joshua are finally going to fight. Gassiev has another championship belt, and younger contenders continue waiting behind them.

Usyk remains No. 1.

But November feels different.

For the first time, the heavyweight division is beginning to look ready for whatever comes after him.