List of undisputed boxing world champions

This list of undisputed world boxing champions provides an overview of all undisputed world boxing champions regardless of their weight classes . The only weight classes in which there has not yet been an undisputed world champion are super middle , superbantam , half-fly and straw weights .

The only boxer to date who has been the undisputed world boxing champion three times , regardless of the weight class, is Muhammad Ali .

Heavyweight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
July 24, 1922	September 23, 1926	Jack Dempsey	NYSAC & NBA	2
September 23, 1926	July 31, 1928	Gene Tunney	NYSAC & NBA	2
Tunney announced his resignation. Max Schmeling won the unoccupied title (after beating Jack Sharkey , who was disqualified for an unauthorized blow below the belt).
June 12, 1930	January 7, 1931	Max Schmeling	NYSAC & NBA	1
Schmeling was stripped of the NYSAC title because he refused revenge with Sharkey. The NYSAC title remained vacant until the two eventually boxed together. (This time, Sharkey won after a very controversial and controversial decision.)
June 21, 1932	June 29, 1933	Jack Sharkey	NYSAC & NBA	0
Sharkey lost his title to Primo Carnera , but the NBA federation refused to recognize Carnera as their new federation world champion (on suspicion of fight rigging). The NBA title remained vacant until Max Baer defeated it the following year. (Carnera went down 11 times in the fight.)
June 14, 1934	June 13, 1935	Max Baer	NYSAC & NBA	0
June 13, 1935	June 22, 1937	Jim Braddock	NYSAC & NBA	0
June 22, 1937	March 1, 1949	Joe Louis	NYSAC & NBA	25th
Louis announced his resignation. Ezzard Charles won the vacant NBA title and defeated Louis in his comeback debut fight for universal recognition.
September 27, 1950	July 18, 1951	Ezzard Charles	NYSAC & NBA	4th
July 18, 1951	September 23, 1952	Jersey Joe Walcott	NYSAC & NBA	1
September 23, 1952	April 27, 1956	Rocky Marciano	NYSAC & NBA	6th
Marciano announced his resignation. Floyd Patterson won the vacant title.
November 30, 1956	June 26, 1959	Floyd Patterson	NYSAC & NBA	4th
June 26, 1959	June 20, 1960	Ingemar Johansson	NYSAC & NBA	0
June 20, 1960	September 25, 1962	Floyd Patterson (2)	NYSAC & NBA	2
September 25, 1962	23rd August 1962	Sonny Liston	NYSAC & NBA	1
23rd August 1962	July 22, 1963		NYSAC & WBA
July 22, 1963	February 25, 1964		NYSAC, WBA & WBC
February 25, 1964	June 19, 1964	Muhammad Ali as Cassius Clay	NYSAC, WBA & WBC	0
Ali was stripped of both the NYSAC and WBA titles for taking immediate revenge with Liston (which was against the association's rules at the time). Ernie Terrell won the vacant NYSAC and WBA titles and lost them to Ali in an unification fight.
February 6, 1967	April 28, 1967	Muhammad Ali (2)	NYSAC, WBA & WBC	1
Ali was stripped of the NYSAC and WBA titles and suspended from boxing because he evaded being drafted by the US Army (during the Vietnam War ). A return soon seemed almost impossible, which is why the WBC association finally released the title in 1969 after years of waiting. Joe Frazier won the vacant NYSAC title and Jimmy Ellis the vacant WBA title. Frazier defeated Ellis for universal recognition, but this was contested by Ali. In 1971 Frazier defeated Ali in his third comeback fight to undermine the legitimacy of his triumph. (In Frazier's favor, Ali was out of shape on his comeback due to his sudden return from a 3½ year suspension.)
February 16, 1970	February 16, 1970	Joe Frazier	NYSAC, WBA & WBC	4th
February 16, 1970	22nd January 1973		WBA & WBC
22nd January 1973	October 30, 1974	George Foreman	WBA & WBC	2
October 30, 1974	February 15, 1978	Muhammad Ali (3)	WBA & WBC	10
February 15, 1978	March 18, 1978	Leon Spinks	WBA & WBC	0
Spinks was stripped of the WBC title for taking immediate revenge with Ali instead of facing WBC mandatory # 1 challenger Ken Norton . The WBC title went to Norton (lost this to Larry Holmes after a short time ) and the WBA title went back to Ali (after a lost rematch). After this victory, Ali announced his resignation. (At this point his pronunciation had become slurred as a result of his Parkinson's disease.) Promoter Don King attempted an unification match between Holmes and John Tate (who recently won the vacant WBA title), but it never took place. The two titles were kept separate for a long time. The WBC and later IBF titles stayed mostly with Holmes, but the WBA title switched between various boxers. After nine and a half years, Mike Tyson united the titles.
August 1, 1987	February 11, 1990	Mike Tyson	WBA, WBC & IBF	6th
February 11, 1990	October 25, 1990	James Douglas	WBA, WBC & IBF	0
October 25, 1990	November 13, 1992	Evander Holyfield	WBA, WBC & IBF	3
November 13, 1992	December 14, 1992	Riddick Bowe	WBA, WBC & IBF	0
Bowe was stripped of the WBC title for rejecting a fight with WBC mandatory challenger # 1 Lennox Lewis and demonstratively throwing the WBC belt in a garbage can in front of the cameras. The WBC title went to Lewis and the WBA and IBF titles went back to Holyfield after a lost revenge. Here, too, the events of the 80s were repeated: The WBC title stayed mostly with Lewis, but the WBA and IBF titles changed between various boxers. After 7 years a unification fight took place. Lewis defeated Holyfield (who by then had won the title back one more time) for universal recognition.
November 13, 1999	April 29, 2000	Lennox Lewis	WBA, WBC & IBF	0
Lewis was stripped of the WBA title because he preferred a fight with WBC mandatory challenger # 1 Michael Grant to that of WBA mandatory challenger # 1 John Ruiz and also denied it after the judicial warning. (Ruiz had already been accepted by Holyfield for a title shot. The relocation caused Ruiz to sue the WBA, which previously reached an agreement with Lewis without his consent. The court ruled in favor of Ruiz.) In 2004, Lewis announced his resignation . After that, all titles were divided up and switched between various boxers. The boxing experts already believed that a new title union would be impossible until the Klitschko brothers boxed their way to the top of all associations: WBC world champion (2004) Vitali Klitschko and his younger brother, IBF- (2006), WBO- (2008) and WBA World Champion (2011), Super World Champion for short, Wladimir Klitschko . In 2013 (during the Crimean crisis ) V. Klitschko announced his resignation in order to devote himself completely to his political career. Accordingly, the union of titles between the brothers dissolved after 2 ½ years (July 2, 2011 to December 15, 2013) and eight joint defenses. In 2015, his younger brother lost all of his titles and announced his resignation in 2017 (after another failed title fight).

Cruiser weight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
April 9, 1988	1988	Evander Holyfield	IBF, WBA & WBC	0
Evander Holyfield became the first undisputed world cruiserweight boxing champion by beating Carlos De León , in which he united his WBA and IBF belts with the WBC belt of De León. After moving to heavyweight, Holyfield had to give up all belts.
January 7, 2006	March 31, 2006	O'Neil Bell	IBF, WBA & WBC	0
O'Neil Bell combined his IBF with the WBA and WBC belt of Jean-Marc Mormeck and thus became the second undisputed world champion in this weight class. He was later stripped of the IBF title because he did not want to compete against their mandatory challenger Steve Cunningham .
July 21, 2018	March 28, 2019	Oleksandr Ussyk	IBF, WBA, WBC & WBO	1

Light heavyweight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
June 1, 1963	March 30, 1965	Willie Pastrano	WBC & WBA	2
March 30, 1965	December 16, 1966	José Torres	WBC & WBA	3
December 16, 1966	May 24, 1968	Dick Tiger	WBC & WBA	2
May 24, 1968	December 9, 1970	Bob Foster	WBC & WBA	4th
Bob Foster was stripped of his WBA belt because he refused to defend it.
April 7, 1972	September 16, 1974	Bob Foster (2)	WBC & WBA	5
Foster reunited both belts by defeating Vicente Rondón and held them until his resignation on September 16, 1974.
March 18, 1983	September 21, 1985	Michael Spinks	WBA, WBC & IBF	4th
Michael Spinks united the titles by defeating Dwight Qawi . Later he also won the IBF title. By moving to heavyweight he had to give up all titles.
June 5, 1999	September 7, 2002	Roy Jones Junior	WBA, WBC & IBF	7th
Although Dariusz Michalczewski was the linear or WBO world champion, Roy Jones junior defeated Reggie Johnson and thus combined his WBA and WBC belts with Johnson's IBF belt, making him the undisputed world champion. After moving to the heavyweight division, he too had to give up all titles.

medium weight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
August 10, 1963	December 12, 1963	Dick Tiger	WBA & WBC	0
December 12, 1963	October 21, 1965	Joey Giardello	WBA & WBC	4th
October 21, 1965	April 25, 1966	Dick Tiger (2)	WBA & WBC	0
April 17, 1967	29th September 1967	Nino Benvenuti	WBA & WBC	0
29th September 1967	4th March 1968	Emile Griffith	WBA & WBC	2
4th March 1968	November 7, 1970	Nino Benvenuti (2)	WBA & WBC	4th
November 7, 1970	February 9, 1974	Carlos Monzón	WBA & WBC	9
Monzon was stripped of his WBC title after failing to face his mandatory challenger Rodrigo Valdez .
June 26, 1976	July 30, 1977	Carlos Monzón (2)	WBA & WBC	1
5th November 1977	May 22, 1978	Rodrigo Valdez	WBA & WBC	0
May 22, 1978	June 30, 1979	Hugo Corro	WBA & WBC	2
June 30, 1979	March 16, 1980	Vito Antuofermo	WBA & WBC	1
March 16, 1980	September 27, 1980	Alan Minter	WBA & WBC	1
September 27, 1980	June 6, 1987	Marvelous Marvin Hagler	WBA, WBC & IBF	12
Marvin Hagler became the first IBF world champion and was able to add this belt to his WBA and WBC belts. Since Hagler risked his WBC belt against Sugar Ray Leonard , the IBF and WBA recognized his titles from him. He also lost the fight against Leonard on points.
September 29, 2001	July 16, 2005	Bernard Hopkins	WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO	6th
Bernard Hopkins became the first undisputed champion after he was able to unite the belts of the WBC, WBA and IBF by defeating Félix Trinidad . He later won the WBO belt by beating Óscar de la Hoya , making him the first boxer to hold all four titles at the same time.
July 16, 2005	December 14, 2006	Jermain Taylor	WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO	0
Taylor lost his IBF belt when he preferred a rematch against Bernard Hopkins to a bout against IBF number 1 challenger Arthur Abraham . With the withdrawal of his WBA belt on December 14, 2006, he also lost his status as the undisputed world champion.

Light middleweight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
October 20, 1962	April 29. 1963	Denny Moyer	WBA & WBC	2
April 29, 1963	September 7, 1963	Ralph Dupas	WBA & WBC	0
September 7, 1963	June 18, 1965	Sandro Mazzinghi	WBA & WBC	1
June 18, 1965	June 25, 1966	Nino Benvenuti	WBA & WBC	0
June 25, 1966	May 26, 1968	Kim Ki-soo	WBA & WBC	2
May 26, 1968	October 25, 1968	Sandro Mazzinghi (2)	WBA & WBC	0
17th March 1969	July 9, 1970	Freddie Little	WBA & WBC	2
July 9, 1970	October 31, 1971	Carmelo Bossi	WBA & WBC	0
October 31, 1971	4th June 1974	Koichi Wajima	WBA, & WBC	6th
4th June 1974	January 21, 1975	Oscar Albarado	WBA, & WBC	1
January 21, 1975	March 22, 1975	Koichi Wajima (2)	WBA & WBC	0
March 13, 2004	November 20, 2004	Winky Wright	WBA, WBC & IBF	0
By uniting his IBF belt with the WBA and WBC belts by defeating Shane Mosley , Winky Wright became the first undisputed world light middleweight champion. In the rematch against Mosley he then lost to this and thus lost his IBF belt.

Welterweight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
March 21, 1963	June 8, 1963	Luis Rodríguez	WBA & WBC	0
June 8, 1963	December 10, 1965	Emile Griffith	WBA & WBC	6th
By moving to middleweight Emile Griffith had to give up all of his titles.
November 28, 1966	April 18th 1969	Curtis Cokes	WBA & WBC	5
Curtis Cokes united all titles by defeating Jean Josselin .
April 18th 1969	3rd December 1970	José Nápoles	WBA & WBC	3
3rd December 1970	4th June 1971	Billy Backus	WBA & WBC	0
4th June 1971	May 1975	José Nápoles (2)	WBA & WBC	9
Due to a defeat in the rematch against Armando Muñíz , Nápoles lost his WBA belt.
September 16, 1981	February 15, 1982	Sugar Ray Leonard	WBA & WBC	1
Sugar Ray Leonard combined his WBC belt with Thomas Hearns ' WBA belt to become the first undisputed world champion in seven years. He later had to give up his title because a retinal detachment had to force him to end his career.
December 6, 1985	September 27, 1986	Donald Curry	WBA, WBC & IBF	1
Donald Curry combined his WBA and IBF belts with Milton McCrory's WBC titles, making him the next undisputed world champion.
September 27, 1986	1987	Lloyd Honeyghan	WBA, WBC & IBF	2
Lloyd Honeyghan returned his WBA title to protest the federation's decision to host World Cup bouts in South Africa.
December 13, 2003	February 5, 2005	Cory Spinks	WBA, WBC & IBF	2
Cory Spinks became the undisputed world champion by uniting his IBF belt with the belts of the WBC and WBA by defeating Ricardo Mayorga .
February 5, 2005	January 7, 2006	Zab Judah	WBA, WBC & IBF	1
Zab Judah lost his title fight against Carlos Baldomir , but since he had only paid the fees to the WBC, he was allowed to keep his IBF title. However, he later lost this to Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Light welterweight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
June 15, 1963	January 18, 1965	Eddie Perkins	WBA & WBC	2
January 18, 1965	April 29, 1966	Carlos Hernández	WBA & WBC	0
April 29, 1966	April 30, 1967	Sandro Lopopolo	WBA & WBC	0
April 30, 1967	November 16, 1967 (Vacated)	Takeshi Fuji	WBA & WBC	1
November 3, 2001	January 19, 2003	Kostya Tszyu	WBA, WBC & IBF	2
Kostya Tszyu became the undisputed world champion by winning Zab Judah's IBF belt and thus holding all three titles at the same time. Due to training injuries Tszyu was unable to defend his WBC or WBA titles and both titles were stripped of his due to inactivity. He later lost his IBF belt to Ricky Hatton .
19th August 2017	August 30, 2017	Terence Crawford	WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO	0

lightweight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
April 7, 1963	April 1, 1965	Carlos Ortiz	WBA & WBC	2
April 10, 1965	November 13, 1965	Ismael Laguna	WBA & WBC	0
November 13, 1965	June 29, 1968	Carlos Ortiz (2)	WBA & WBC	5
June 29, 1968	18th February 1969	Carlos Teo Cruz	WBA & WBC	1
18th February 1969	March 3, 1970	Mando Ramos	WBA & WBC	0
March 3, 1970	September 15, 1970	Ismael Laguna (2)	WBA & WBC	0
Ismael Laguna gave up his WBC title.
February 12, 1971	June 25, 1971	Ken Buchanan	WBA & WBC	1
Buchanan gave up his WBC title after contract difficulties.
January 21, 1978	January 1979	Roberto Durán	WBA & WBC	0
Roberto Durán, who held the WBA title, became the undisputed world champion after defeating WBC world champion Esteban de Jesús . After moving to welterweight, he gave up both titles.
August 11, 1990	January 18, 1992	Pernell Whitaker	WBA, WBC & IBF	3
Pernell Whitaker, who already held the IBF and WBC belt, won against Juan Nazario , the world champion of the WBA and thus became the undisputed world champion. He had to give up all of his titles when he switched to light welterweight.

Super featherweight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
February 16, 1963	June 15, 1967	Flash Elorde	WBA & WBC	5
June 15, 1967	December 14, 1967	Yoshiaki Numata	WBA & WBC	0
December 14, 1967	19th January 1969	Hiroshi Kobayashi	WBA & WBC	0
Hiroshi Kobayashi was stripped of his WBC title because he did not want to compete against René Barrientos , although he had previously signed a contract.

Featherweight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
March 21, 1963	September 26, 1964	Sugar Ramos	WBA & WBC	0
September 26, 1964	October 14, 1967	Vicente Saldivar	WBA & WBC	7th
Vicente Saldivar ended his career after successfully defending his title against Howard Winstone .

Bantamweight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
September 11, 1962	May 18, 1965	Eder Jofre	WBA & WBC	2
May 18, 1965	February 27, 1968	Fighting Harada	WBA & WBC	4th
February 27, 1968	22nd August 1969	Lionel Rose	WBA & WBC	3
22nd August 1969	October 16, 1970	Rubén Olivares	WBA & WBC	2
October 16, 1970	April 2nd 1971	Chucho Castillo	WBA & WBC	0
April 2nd 1971	March 19, 1972	Rubén Olivares (2)	WBA & WBC	2
March 19, 1972	July 29, 1972	Rafael Herrera	WBA & WBC	0
July 29, 1972	April 14, 1973	Enrique Pinder	WBA & WBC	0
Enrique Pinder was stripped of his WBC belt shortly after winning because he did not defend his title against Rodolfo Martínez .

Super flyweight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
5th July 1984	March 30, 1986	Jiro Watanabe	WBA & WBC	3

Flyweight

From	To	World Champion	Associations	Successful defenses
September 18, 1963	January 23, 1964	Hiroyuki Ebihara	WBA & WBC	0
January 23, 1964	April 23, 1965	Pone Kingpetch	WBA & WBC	0
April 23, 1965	November 1965	Salvatore Burruni	WBA & WBC	0
March 1, 1966	2nd October 1968	Horacio Accavallo	WBA & WBC	3

See also

• Undisputed world boxing champion
• List of boxing world champions from Germany

Web links

• World champions
• http://www.boxrec.com
• http://www.ibhof.com
• Ken Buchanan - Lightweight Champion of the World