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At least since John L. Sullivan, in the late 19th century, there have been world boxing champions. The first of today's organizations to award a world title was the World Boxing Association, known as the National Boxing Association when it sanctioned its first title fight in 1921 between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier for the heavyweight championship.

There are now four major sanctioning bodies in professional boxing. The official rules and regulations of the World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization all recognize the other three major sanctioning bodies in their rankings and title unification rules. Each of these organizations sanction and regulate championship bouts and award championships. American boxing magazine The Ring began awarding world championship belts in 1922.

There are seventeen weight divisions. To compete in a weight class, a boxer's weight must not exceed the upper limit. Manny Pacquiao has won world championships in eight different weight classes, more than any other boxer. The Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, hold all five major titles in the heavyweight division. They are the first brothers to hold versions of the heavyweight championship at the same time.

Championships

When a champion, for reasons beyond his control such as an illness or injury, is unable to defend his title within the normal mandatory time, the sanctioning bodies may order an interim title bout and award the winner an interim championship. The WBA and WBC may change the status of their inactive champions to Champion in Recess.

World Boxing Association

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, which today has its head office in Panama. According to WBA championship rules, when a champion holds a title of one of the other three major sanctioning bodies in an equivalent weight class, the boxer is granted special recognition: he is called the unified champion and is given more time between mandatory title defences. The WBA Championships Committee and President may designate a champion as a Super Champion in exceptional circumstances. The WBA title is vacated if it is one of the titles the respective boxer holds. When a WBA champion defends his title for the fifth or sixth time, he may be granted the WBA "Super" title upon discretion of a vote of the WBA's board of governors.

World Boxing Council

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 (Honorary Champion), Mikkel Kessler, Sergio Martínez, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Kostya Tszyu, Manny Pacquiao, Érik Morales, Vic Darchinyan, and Édgar Sosa. The WBC has got "Diamond Champions" as well, a title that normally is at stake at very high-profile matches between two top fighters. Manny Pacquiao was the first one to win this title in 2009 by beating then-WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto. In 2011, Sergio Martínez won the title at middleweight by beating Serhiy Dzinziruk, who was undefeated in 37 fights until then. On May 21, 2011, Bernard Hopkins beat Jean Pascal on points to become the oldest ever world boxing champion at the age of 46, becoming the third man to win the WBC's Diamond belt.

International Boxing Federation

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.

World Boxing Organization

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." When a WBO champion has reached "preeminent status" the WBO's Executive Committee may designate him as a "Super Champion". Besides the beltholders that are called "Super Champion", there are other fighters that have been named "WBO Super Champion" like Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, Kelly Pavlik, Óscar De La Hoya, Juan Díaz, Marco Antonio Barrera, Fernando Montiel, Iván Calderón. The WBO championships are not universally recognized. Some media sites do not include the WBO in their list of champions, but others do.

The Ring

The Ring is a respected boxing magazine that was founded in 1922. The Ring has its own version of lineal championship in a given weight class. The Ring began awarding world championship belts in 1922. The Ring stopped giving belts to the world champions in the 1990s but began again in 2002.

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." The Ring claims to be more authoritative and open than the sanctioning bodies' rankings, with a page devoted to full explanations for ranking changes. A fighter pays no sanctioning fees to defend or fight for the title at stake, contrary to practices of the sanctioning bodies. 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.

Current champions

The current champions in each weight class are listed below. Each champion's professional boxing record is shown in the following format: wins–losses–draws–no contests (knockout wins).

Heavyweight (200+ lb, 90.7+ kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Wladimir Klitschko Super champion  Ukraine 56–3–0–0 (49) July 2, 2011	Vitali Klitschko  Ukraine 43–2–0–0 (40) October 11, 2008	Wladimir Klitschko  Ukraine 56–3–0–0 (49) April 22, 2006	Wladimir Klitschko Super champion  Ukraine 56–3–0–0 (49) February 23, 2008	Wladimir Klitschko  Ukraine 56–3–0–0 (49) June 20, 2009
Alexander Povetkin  Russia 23–0–0–0 (16) August 27, 2011

Cruiserweight, Junior heavyweight (200 lb, 90.7 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Guillermo Jones  Panama 38–3–2–0 (30) September 27, 2008	Krzysztof Włodarczyk  Poland 46–2–1–0 (33) May 15, 2010	Yoan Pablo Hernández  Cuba 26–1–0–0 (13) October 1, 2011	Marco Huck  Germany 34–1–0–0 (25) August 29, 2009	Yoan Pablo Hernández  Cuba 26–1–0–0 (13) February 4, 2012
Denis Lebedev Interim champion  Russia 23–1–0–0 (17) November 4, 2011

Light heavyweight (175 lb, 79.4 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Beibut Shumenov  Kazakhstan 12–1–0–0 (8) January 29, 2010	Bernard Hopkins  United States 52–5–2–2 (32) May 21, 2011	Tavoris Cloud  United States 23–0–0–0 (19) August 28, 2009	Nathan Cleverly  United Kingdom 23–0–0–0 (11) May 18, 2011	Bernard Hopkins  United States 52–5–2–2 (32) May 21, 2011

Super middleweight (168 lb, 76.2 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Andre Ward Super champion  United States 25–0–0–0 (13) November 21, 2009	Andre Ward  United States 25–0–0–0 (13) December 17, 2011	Lucian Bute  Romania 30–0–0–0 (24) October 19, 2007	Robert Stieglitz  Germany 41–2–0–0 (23) August 22, 2009	Andre Ward  United States 25–0–0–0 (13) December 17, 2011
Károly Balzsay  Hungary 24–2–0–0 (17) August 26, 2011
Brian Magee Interim champion  United Kingdom 35–4–1–0 (24) July 30, 2011

Middleweight (160 lb, 72.6 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Felix Sturm Super champion  Germany 36–2–2–0 (15) March 22, 2010	Julio César Chávez Jr  Mexico 45–0–1–1 (31) June 4, 2011	Daniel Bowdler  Australia 26–1–0–0 (15) May 7, 2011	Dmitry Pirog  Russia 19–0–0–0 (15) July 31, 2010	Sergio Martínez  Argentina 48–2–2–0 (27) April 17, 2010
Gennady Golovkin  Kazakhstan 22–0–0–0 (19) October 14, 2010

Super welterweight, Junior middleweight (154 lb, 69.9 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Miguel Cotto Super champion  Puerto Rico 37–2–0–0 (30) September 10, 2010	Saúl Álvarez  Mexico 39–0–1–0 (29) March 5, 2011	Cornelius Bundrage  United States 31–4–0–1 (18) August 7, 2010	Zaurbek Baysangurov  Russia 26–1–0–0 (20) October 5, 2011	vacant
Austin Trout  United States 24–0–0–0 (14) February 5, 2011
Anthony Mundine Interim champion  Australia 43–4–0–0 (25) October 19, 2011

Welterweight (147 lb, 66.7 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Vyacheslav Senchenko  Ukraine 32–0–0–0 (21) April 10, 2009	Floyd Mayweather Jr  United States 42–0–0–0 (26) September 17, 2011	vacant	Manny Pacquiao Super champion  Philippines 54–3–2–0 (38) November 14, 2009	vacant
Ismael El Massoudi Interim champion  France 36–3–0–0 (14) July 14, 2011

Super lightweight, Junior welterweight (140 lb, 63.5 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Lamont Peterson Super champion  United States 30–1–1–0 (15) December 10, 2011	Érik Morales  Mexico 52–7–0–0 (36) September 17, 2011	Lamont Peterson  United States 30–1–1–0 (15) December 10, 2011	Timothy Bradley  United States 28–0–0–1 (12) April 4, 2009	vacant
Marcos René Maidana  Argentina 31–2–0–0 (28) July 23, 2011	Timothy Bradley In recess  United States 28–0–0–1 (12) July 26, 2011
Johan Pérez Interim champion  Venezuela 15–0–1–1 (12) December 10, 2011

Lightweight (135 lb, 61.2 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
vacant	Antonio DeMarco  Mexico 26–2–1–0 (19) October 15, 2011	Miguel Vázquez  Mexico 30–3–0–0 (13) August 14, 2010	Juan Manuel Márquez Super champion  Mexico 53–6–1–0 (39) February 28, 2009	Juan Manuel Márquez  Mexico 53–6–1–0 (39) September 13, 2008
Richard Abril Interim champion  Cuba 17–2–1–0 (8) October 22, 2011			Ricky Burns Interim champion  United Kingdom 33–2–0–0 (9) November 5, 2011

Super featherweight, Junior lightweight (130 lb, 59 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Takashi Uchiyama  Japan 18–0–0–0 (15) January 11, 2010	Takahiro Ao  Japan 22–2–1–0 (10) November 26, 2010	Juan Carlos Salgado  Mexico 24–1–1–1 (16) September 10, 2011	Adrien Broner  United States 22–0–0–0 (18) November 26, 2011	vacant
Bryan Vázquez Interim champion  Costa Rica 28–0–0–0 (14) November 3, 2011

Featherweight (126 lb, 57.2 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Chris John Super champion  Indonesia 46–0–2–0 (22) July 23, 2009	Jhonny González  Mexico 51–7–0–0 (45) April 8, 2011	Billy Dib  Australia 33–1–0–1 (20) July 29, 2011	Orlando Salido  Mexico 37–11–2–1 (25) April 16, 2011	vacant
Celestino Caballero  Panama 36–4–0–0 (23) October 14, 2011	Elio Rojas In recess  Dominican Republic 23–1–0–0 (14) August 25, 2010

Super bantamweight, Junior featherweight (122 lb, 55.3 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Guillermo Rigondeaux  Cuba 9–0–0–0 (7) January 20, 2012	Toshiaki Nishioka  Japan 39–4–3–0 (24) December 18, 2008	Takalani Ndlovu  South Africa 33–6–0–0 (18) March 26, 2011	Nonito Donaire  Philippines 28–1–0–0 (18) February 4, 2012	vacant

Bantamweight (118 lb, 53.5 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Anselmo Moreno Super champion  Panama 32–1–1–0 (11) November 16, 2010	Shinsuke Yamanaka  Japan 15–0–2–0 (11) November 6, 2011	vacant	Jorge Arce Super champion  Mexico 59–6–2–0 (45) November 26, 2011	vacant
Koki Kameda  Japan 27–1–0–0 (17) December 26, 2010
Hugo Ruiz Interim champion  Mexico 29–1–0–0 (26) January 22, 2011

Super flyweight, Junior bantamweight (115 lb, 52.2 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Tepparith Kokietgym  Thailand 19–2–0–0 (12) November 10, 2011	Suriyan Sor Rungvisai  Thailand 20–4–1–0 (7) August 19, 2011	Rodrigo Guerrero  Mexico 16–3–1–0 (10) October 8, 2011	Omar Andrés Narváez Super champion  Argentina 35–1–2–0 (19) May 15, 2010	vacant
Tomonobu Shimizu In recess  Japan 19–3–1–0 (9) November 10, 2011
Liborio Solís Interim champion  Venezuela 13–3–1–0 (7) December 10, 2011

Flyweight (112 lb, 50.8 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Hernán Márquez  Mexico 32–2–0–0 (25) April 2, 2011	Pongsaklek Wonjongkam  Thailand 83–3–2–0 (44) March 27, 2010	Moruti Mthalane  South Africa 28–2–0–0 (19) November 20, 2009	Brian Viloria  United States 30–3–0–2 (17) July 16, 2011	Pongsaklek Wonjongkam  Thailand 83–3–2–0 (44) March 27, 2010
Juan Carlos Reveco Interim champion  Argentina 27–1–0–0 (16) June 10, 2011

Light flyweight, Junior flyweight (108 lb, 49 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Román González  Nicaragua 30–0–0–0 (25) February 4, 2011	Kompayak Porpramook  Thailand 44–3–0–0 (30) December 23, 2011	Ulises Solís  Mexico 34–2–3–0 (21) April 30, 2011	Donnie Nietes  Philippines 29–1–3–0 (16) October 8, 2011	vacant
José Alfredo Rodríguez Interim champion  Mexico 28–0–0–0 (17) November 19, 2011

Minimumweight, Strawweight, Mini flyweight (105 lb, 47.6 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Akira Yaegashi  Japan 15–2–0–0 (8) October 24, 2011	Kazuto Ioka  Japan 9–0–0–0 (6) February 11, 2011	Nkosinathi Joyi  South Africa 21–0–0–1 (15) March 26, 2010	Moisés Fuentes  Mexico 14–1–0–0 (6) August 27, 2011	vacant
Paipharob Kokietgym Interim champion  Thailand 19–0–0–0 (16) November 7, 2011

See also

• Weight class (boxing)
• Ring Magazine pound for pound

References

Specific

1. ^ "Rules of World Boxing Association" (PDF). World Boxing Association. Retrieved March 2, 2009.
2. "World Boxing Council Rules and Regulations" (PDF). World Boxing Council. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
3. "IBF/USBA RULES GOVERNING CHAMPIONSHIP CONTESTS" (PDF). International Boxing Federation. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
4. "World Boxing Organization Regulations of World Championship Contests". World Boxing Organization. Retrieved March 2, 2009.
5. Lewis, Ron (October 13, 2008). "Vitali Klitschko impressive in comeback victory". The Times. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
6. "World Boxing Association History". World Boxing Association. Retrieved March 2, 2009.
7. "World Boxing Association Super Belt winners". World Boxing Association. Retrieved March 2, 2009.
8. "World Boxing Council". World Boxing Council. Retrieved September 5, 2009.
9. "Rules that have changed the History of Boxing". World Boxing Council. Archived from the original on September 25, 2007. Retrieved June 6, 2006.
10. ^ "History of the IBF". International Boxing Federation. December 4, 2000. Archived from the original on December 4, 2000. Retrieved June 6, 2006.
11. "WBO logo". World Boxing Organization. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
12. "WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests" (PDF). World Boxing Organization. Section 14.
13. "Current Boxing Champions' Career Records". Sports Illustrated. March 22, 1998. Retrieved December 11, 2010.
14. "Current Boxing Champions". Yahoo!. December 11, 2010. Retrieved December 11, 2010.
15. "Reigning Champions". ESPN Internet Ventures. January 20, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
16. "List of Champions". BBC Sport. May 5, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2007.
17. ^ "About The Ring". The Ring. February 14, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
18. ^ Kellerman, Max (January 22, 2004). "Gatti vs. the unknown". ESPN. Retrieved March 3, 2009.

General

• "BoxRec title search". BoxRec.com. Retrieved May 7, 2007.
• "IBF-USBA official ratings". International Boxing Federation. April 25, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2007.
• "WBA official ratings". World Boxing Association. March 2009. Retrieved March 2, 2009.
• "The Ring Ratings". The Ring. February 9, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "WBC official ratings". World Boxing Council. September 2009. Retrieved September 5, 2009.
• "Rankings - World Boxing Organization". World Boxing Organization. October 2011. Retrieved January 7, 2011.

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