Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 05:08, 15 April 2008

This is a list of current boxing world champions who are certified by the four major boxing sanctioning bodies and The Ring magazine. Each champion's professional boxing record is shown in the following format: wins-losses-draws-no contests (knockout wins).

The World Boxing Association (WBA) was founded in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA)—a national regulating body of the United States. On August 23, 1962, the NBA became the WBA—a Venezuelan-based worldwide regulating body. According to WBA championship rules, when a boxer holds both a WBA world title and a world title from at least one of the other three major sanctioning bodies, the boxer is granted special recognition: unified champion (if he holds two titles), undisputed champion (three titles), or super champion (all four titles). The "regular" WBA world title is then vacated.

The World Boxing Council (WBC) was founded in Mexico City, Mexico on February 14, 1963 in order to establish an international regulating body. The WBC established many of today's safety measures in boxing, such as the standing eight-count, a limit of 12 rounds instead of 15, and additional weight classes. In its discretion, the WBC may designate and recognize, upon a two-thirds majority vote of their Board of Governors, one or more emeritus world champions in each weight class. Such a recognition is for life and is only bestowed upon present or past WBC world champions. The following boxers have earned the emeritus championship appellation throughout their careers: Lennox Lewis, Vitali Klitschko, Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Kostya Tszyu, Manny Pacquiao, and Erik Morales.

The International Boxing Federation (IBF) originated in September 1976 as the United States Boxing Association (USBA) when American members of the WBA withdrew in order to legitimize boxing in the United States with "unbiased" ratings. In April 1983, The organization established an international division that was known as the United States Boxing Association-International (USBA-I). In May 1984, the New Jersey-based USBA-I was renamed and became the IBF.

The World Boxing Organization (WBO) was founded in San Juan, Puerto Rico (which is a self-governing commonwealth of the United States) in 1988. Its motto is "dignity, democracy, honesty." Though Oscar de la Hoya and Bernard Hopkins don't have WBO belts at the moment, they actually call them "Super champion". Some media sites do not include the WBO in their list of champions, whereas others do.

The Ring is not a sanctioning body but is a boxing magazine that was founded in 1922. In 2002, The Ring created a championship system that is "intended to reward fighters who, by satisfying rigid criteria, can justify a claim as the true and only world champion in a given weight class." There are currently only two ways that a boxer can win The Ring's title: defeat the reigning champion; or win a box-off between The Ring's number-one and number-two rated contenders (or, sometimes, number-one and number-three rated). There are also only three ways that a boxer can lose The Ring's title: lose a championship fight, move to a different weight class, or retire. (The Ring does not strip its champions' titles like the sanctioning bodies do.)

Current champions

Heavyweight (200+ lb, 90.7+ kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Ruslan Chagaev 24-0-1 (17 KO) April 14, 2007	Samuel Peter 30-1 (23 KO) March 8, 2008	Wladimir Klitschko 50-3 (44 KO) April 22, 2006	Wladimir Klitschko 50-3 (44 KO) February 23, 2008	vacant

Cruiserweight (200 lb, 90.7 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
David Haye 21-1 (20 KO) November 10, 2007	David Haye 21-1 (20 KO) November 10, 2007	Steve Cunningham 21-1 (11 KO) May 26, 2007	David Haye 21-1 (20 KO) March 8, 2008	David Haye 21-1 (20 KO) November 10, 2007
Firat Arslan 28-3-1 (18 KO) November 24, 2007

Light heavyweight (175 lb, 79.4 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
vacant	Chad Dawson 26-0-0-1 (17 KO) February 3, 2007	Antonio Tarver 27-4 (19 KO) April 12, 2008	Zsolt Erdei 28-0 (17 KO) January 17, 2004	Bernard Hopkins 48-4-1-1 (32 KO) June 10, 2006

Super middleweight (168 lb, 76.2 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Joe Calzaghe 44-0 (32 KO) November 3, 2007	Joe Calzaghe 44-0 (32 KO) November 3, 2007	Lucian Bute 22-0 (18 KO) October 19, 2007	Joe Calzaghe 44-0 (32 KO) October 11, 1997	Joe Calzaghe 44-0 (32 KO) March 4, 2006
Anthony Mundine 31-3 (23 KO) March 7, 2007

Middleweight (160 lb, 72.6 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Felix Sturm 29-2-1 (13 KO) April 28, 2007	Kelly Pavlik 33-0 (29 KO) September 29, 2007	Arthur Abraham 26-0 (21 KO) December 10, 2005	Kelly Pavlik 33-0 (29 KO) September 29, 2007	Kelly Pavlik 33-0 (29 KO) September 29, 2007

Super welterweight (154 lb, 69.9 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Joachim Alcine 30-0 (19 KO) July 7, 2007	Vernon Forrest 40-2-0-1 (29 KO) July 28, 2007	Verno Phillips 42-10-1-1 (21 KO) March 27, 2008	Sergiy Dzinziruk 34-0 (22 KO) December 3, 2005	vacant

Welterweight (147 lb, 66.7 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Miguel Ángel Cotto 32-0 (26 KO) December 2, 2006	Floyd Mayweather Jr. 39-0 (25 KO) November 4, 2006	Template:Country data Mex Antonio Margarito 36-5-0-1 (26 KO) April 12, 2008	Carlos Quintana 25-1 (19 KO) February 9, 2008	Floyd Mayweather Jr. 39-0 (25 KO) November 4, 2006
Yuriy Nuzhnenko 27-0 (13 KO) December 8, 2007

Super lightweight (140 lb, 63.5 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Andreas Kotelnik 29-2-1 (13 KO) March 22, 2008	Junior Witter 36-1-2 (21 KO) September 15, 2006	Paul Malignaggi 24-1 (5 KO) June 16, 2007	Ricardo Torres 32-1 (28 KO) November 18, 2006	Ricky Hatton 43-1 (31 KO) June 4, 2005

Lightweight (135 lb, 61.2 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Nate Campbell 32-5-1 (25 KO) March 8, 2008	David Díaz 34-1-1 (17 KO) February 20, 2007	Nate Campbell 32-5-1 (25 KO) March 8, 2008	Nate Campbell 32-5-1 (25 KO) March 8, 2008	Joel Casamayor 36-3-1 (22 KO) October 7, 2006
José Alfaro 20-3-0-1 (18 KO) December 29, 2007			Joel Casamayor 36-3-1 (22 KO) March 22, 2008

Super featherweight (130 lb, 59 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Edwin Valero 23-0 (23 KO) August 5, 2006	Manny Pacquiao 46-3-2 (35 KO) March 15, 2008	Cassius Baloyi 35-3-1 (18 KO) April 12, 2008	Joan Guzmán 28-0 (17 KO) September 16, 2006	Manny Pacquiao 46-3-2 (35 KO) March 15, 2008
			Alex Arthur 26-1 (19 KO) July 21, 2007

Featherweight (126 lb, 57.2 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Chris John 41-0-1 (22 KO) November 1, 2003	Jorge Linares 25-0 (16 KO) July 21, 2007	Robert Guerrero 22-1-1-1 (15 KO) February 23, 2007	Steven Luevano 35-1 (15 KO) July 14, 2007	vacant

Super bantamweight (122 lb, 55.3 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Celestino Caballero 28-2 (19 KO) October 4, 2006	Israel Vázquez 43-4 (31 KO) August 4, 2007	Steve Molitor 27-0 (10 KO) November 10, 2006	Daniel Ponce de León 34-1 (30 KO) October 29, 2005	Israel Vázquez 43-4 (31 KO) August 4, 2007

Bantamweight (118 lb, 53.5 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Wladimir Sidorenko 21-0-2 (7 KO) February 26, 2005	Hozumi Hasegawa 23-2 (7 KO) April 16, 2005	Joseph Agbeko 25-1 (22 KO) September 29, 2007	Gerry Peñalosa 53-6-2 (36 KO) August 11, 2007	vacant

Super flyweight (115 lb, 52.2 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Alexander Muñoz 32-2 (27 KO) May 3, 2007	Cristian Mijares 34-3-2 (14 KO) December 6, 2006	Dimitri Kirilov 29-3-1 (9 KO) October 13, 2007	Fernando Montiel 36-2-1 (27 KO) April 9, 2005	vacant

Flyweight (112 lb, 50.8 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Takefumi Sakata 32-4-2 (15 KO) March 19, 2007	Daisuke Naito 32-2-3 (20 KO) July 18, 2007	Nonito Donaire 19-1 (12 KO) July 7, 2007	Omar Andrés Narváez 26-0-2 (16 KO) July 13, 2002	vacant

Light flyweight (108 lb, 49 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Brahim Asloum 23-2 (9 KO) December 8, 2007	Edgar Sosa 31-5 (16 KO) April 13, 2007	Ulises Solís 26-1-2 (20 KO) January 7, 2006	Iván Calderón 31-0 (6 KO) August 25, 2007	Iván Calderón 31-0 (6 KO) August 25, 2007

Strawweight (105 lb, 47.6 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Yutaka Niida 23-1-3 (9 KO) July 3, 2004	Oleydong Sithsamerchai 26-0 (10 KO) November 29, 2007	Florante Condes 22-3-1 (20 KO) July 7, 2007	Donnie Nietes 22-1-3 (13 KO) September 30, 2007	vacant

See also

• Boxing weight classes
• List of male boxers
• Ring Magazine pound for pound

References

1. The official rules and regulations of the WBA, IBF, and WBO all mention by name the other three major sanctioning bodies in their title unification rules. The WBC does not mention by name any other sanctioning body in its rules, but it does list the other three major sanctioning bodies' champions on its website. Thus, all four organizations consider only themselves and the other three organizations to be major sanctioning bodies. They do not consider organizations such as the IBO and IBA to be major sanctioning bodies.
2. Bastidas, Angel M. "World Boxing Association History". World Boxing Association. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
3. "World Boxing Association World Championships Regulations" (PDF). World Boxing Association. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
4. "World Boxing Council: History & Founding Fathers". World Boxing Council. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
5. "Rules that have changed the History of Boxing". World Boxing Council. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
6. ^ "Permanent Medical Research Program". World Boxing Council. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
7. ^ "History of the IBF". International Boxing Federation. December 4, 2000. Archived from the original on 2000-12-04. Retrieved 2006-06-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. "WBO logo". World Boxing Organization. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
9. "Current Boxing Champions". Yahoo!. May 7, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. "Current Boxing Champions". Sports Illustrated. April 5, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. Eisele, Andrew (May 6, 2007). "Boxing Champions". About.com. Retrieved 2007-05-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. "List of Champions". BBC Sport. May 5, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. "About The Ring". The Ring. June 26, 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
14. ^ Kellerman, Max (January 22, 2004). "Gatti vs. the unknown". ESPN. Retrieved 2006-06-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. ^ WBO super champion.
16. ^ WBA undisputed champion.
17. ^ Interim world champion.

• "BoxRec title search". BoxRec.com. Retrieved 2007-05-07.
• "IBF-USBA official ratings". International Boxing Federation. April 25, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Mendoza, Gilberto (May 7, 2007). "WBA official ratings". World Boxing Association. Retrieved 2007-05-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "The Ring Ratings". The Ring. April 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "WBC official ratings". World Boxing Council. April 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "WBO official champions". World Boxing Organization. April 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

• Lists of boxers
• Lists of men
• World boxing champions