With the latest edition of the WBC rankings set to be unveiled to the public soon, four boxers will see themselves get kicked out of the rankings for not enrolling in the Clean Boxing Program.
The WBC announced the following boxers will not be in the June 2019 edition of the WBC rankings: featherweight contender Shakur Stevenson, former lightweight champion Jose Pedraza, flyweight contender Jobert Alvarez and minimumweight contender Norihito Tanaka.
The aforementioned fighters being removed from the rankings does mean they are no longer eligible to challenge for a WBC world title until they enroll in the program. All four fighters had 90 days to enroll after being initially ranked, but given that they have not done so, they will remain unranked until they do so.
The news does not have any bearing on the position the fighters have in the rankings of other organizations. Pedraza and Alvarez, however, are unranked on the other three governing bodies at lightweight and flyweight, respectively. Both Stevenson and Tanaka are ranked in the top 15 by the WBA, WBO and IBF at featherweight and minimumweight, respectively.
This isn't the first time the WBC has removed fighters from the rankings for failing to enroll in the Clean Boxing Program, which aims to combat PED use in boxing through out-of-competition testing and creating awareness about the dangers of using banned substances. Names such as Manny Pacquiao, David Haye, Jarrell Miller, Errol Spence Jr., Lamont Peterson, Liam Smith and many more were out of the WBC's top 15 at one point for not being in the Clean Boxing Program.
