List of undisputed boxing champions

This is a list of undisputed champions in professional boxing.

Boxing sanctioning bodies

New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC), founded in 1920.
World Boxing Association (WBA), founded in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA).
World Boxing Council (WBC), founded in 1963.
International Boxing Federation (IBF), founded in 1983.
World Boxing Organization (WBO), founded in 1988.

Criteria

1920–1963, a boxer who held both the NYSAC and NBA (WBA) titles simultaneously.
1963–1983, a boxer who held both the WBA and WBC titles simultaneously.
1983–2007, a boxer who held the WBA, WBC, and IBF titles simultaneously.
2007–present, a boxer who holds the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles simultaneously. By February 2007, all four major organisations were recognised by each other.^[1]

Heavyweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title defenses
July 24, 1922	September 23, 1926	Jack Dempsey	NYSAC, NBA	2
September 23, 1926	July 31, 1928	Gene Tunney	NYSAC, NBA	2
June 12, 1930	January 7, 1931	Max Schmeling	NYSAC, NBA	1
June 21, 1932	June 29, 1933	Jack Sharkey	NYSAC, NBA	0
June 29, 1933	June 14, 1934	Primo Carnera	NYSAC, NBA	1
June 14, 1934	June 13, 1935	Max Baer	NYSAC, NBA	0
June 13, 1935	June 22, 1937	James J. Braddock	NYSAC, NBA	0
June 22, 1937	March 1, 1949	Joe Louis	NYSAC, NBA	25
September 27, 1950	July 18, 1951	Ezzard Charles	NYSAC, NBA	4
July 18, 1951	September 23, 1952	Jersey Joe Walcott	NYSAC, NBA	1
September 23, 1952	April 27, 1956	Rocky Marciano	NYSAC, NBA	6
November 30, 1956	June 26, 1959	Floyd Patterson	NYSAC, NBA	4
June 26, 1959	June 20, 1960	Ingemar Johansson	NYSAC, NBA	0
June 20, 1960	September 25, 1962	Floyd Patterson	NYSAC, NBA	2
September 25, 1962	February 25, 1964	Sonny Liston	NYSAC, WBA	1
February 25, 1964	September 19, 1964	Muhammad Ali as Cassius Clay	NYSAC, WBC, WBA	0
Ali was stripped of the WBA title in September 1964, after agreeing to an immediate rematch with Liston, which was against the body's rules at the time.
February 6, 1967	April 28, 1967	Muhammad Ali	NYSAC, WBC, WBA	1
Ali reunited the belts by beating WBA champion Ernie Terrell on February 6, 1967. He was stripped of the WBA belt on April 28, 1967 for refusing induction into the United States army, but retained recognition by the WBC until February 16, 1970.
February 16, 1970	January 22, 1973	Joe Frazier	WBC, WBA	4
January 22, 1973	October 30, 1974	George Foreman	WBC, WBA	2
October 30, 1974	February 15, 1978	Muhammad Ali	WBC, WBA	10
February 15, 1978	March 18, 1978	Leon Spinks	WBC, WBA	0
Leon Spinks was stripped of the WBA belt for defending against Muhammad Ali instead of Ken Norton, who was their #1 contender.
August 1, 1987	February 11, 1990	Mike Tyson	WBC, WBA, IBF	6
Mike Tyson became the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion by unifying his WBA and WBC, with Tony Tucker's IBF belt. The Ring magazine later recognized him as champion on June 27, 1988.
February 11, 1990	October 25, 1990	James "Buster" Douglas	WBC, WBA, IBF	0
October 25, 1990	November 13, 1992	Evander Holyfield	WBC, WBA, IBF	3
November 13, 1992	December 14, 1992	Riddick Bowe	WBC, WBA, IBF	0
Bowe was stripped of his WBC championship for refusing to fight Lennox Lewis.
November 13, 1999	April 29, 2000	Lennox Lewis	WBC, WBA, IBF	0
Lennox Lewis became undisputed champion by defeating Evander Holyfield, successfully unifiying his WBC belt with Holyfield's WBA and IBF belts. With that victory, he was also awarded the vacant IBO title. Lewis was stripped of his WBA belt due to a contract dispute regarding a clause in the 2nd Holyfield contract which stipulated he must fight the WBA number 1 contender next. The number 1 contender at that time was Henry Akinwande but he was ill so John Ruiz was later moved up to number 1. The WBA gave Lewis permission under these circumstances to fight WBC ranked contender Michael Grant next as long as he agreed to fight Ruiz in the following bout. Lewis agreed but Ruiz's promoter challenged the WBA's decision in court.

Cruiserweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title defenses
April 9, 1988	1988	Evander Holyfield	IBF, WBA, WBC	0
Evander Holyfield became the first undisputed Cruiserweight Champion by defeating Carlos De León, to unify his WBA and IBF belts with De Leon's WBC belt. He relinquished all the belts after moving up to the Heavyweight division. The Ring Magazine stopped recognizing the weight class in 1987.
January 7, 2006	March 31, 2006	O'Neil Bell	IBF, WBA, WBC	0
O'Neil Bell unifies his IBF belt with Jean Marc Mormeck's WBA and WBC belt to become the second undisputed champion of the division's history. He was later stripped for not agreeing to fight the IBF's #1 challenger Steve Cunningham.

Light heavyweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title 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	9 December 1970	Bob Foster	WBC, WBA	4
Bob Foster was stripped of the WBA championship for refusing to face a mandatory challenger.
7 April 1972	16 September 1974	Bob Foster	WBC, WBA	5
Foster unified the titles again by defeating Vicente Rondon on 7 April 1972. He relinquished both belts upon his retirement on 16 September 1974.
March 18, 1983	September 21, 1985	Michael Spinks	WBA, WBC, IBF	4
Michael Spinks unified the title by defeating Dwight Muhammad Qawi. He later added the IBF title to his undisputed recognition. He vacated all of the belts after moving to the heavyweight division.
June 5, 1999	September 7, 2002	Roy Jones, Jr.	WBA, WBC, IBF	7
Whilst Dariusz Michalczewski was the Lineal/WBO champion, Roy Jones Jr. defeated Reggie Johnson for his IBF belt, successfully unifying with his WBA and WBC belts. Jones relinquished his titles after he moved to the heavyweight division.

Super middleweight

To date, there have been no undisputed super middleweight champions. The closest the division came to having an undisputed champion was on November 3, 2007, when Joe Calzaghe defeated Mikkel Kessler to unify the WBA (Super), WBC and WBO titles; however, the IBF champion at the time was Lucian Bute.

Middleweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title defenses
August 10, 1963	December 12, 1963	Dick Tiger	WBA, WBC	0
December 12, 1963	October 21, 1965	Joey Giardello	WBA, WBC	4
October 21, 1965	April 25, 1966	Dick Tiger	WBA, WBC	0
April 17, 1967	September 29, 1967	Nino Benvenuti	WBA, WBC	0
September 29, 1967	March 4, 1968	Emile Griffith	WBA, WBC	2
March 4, 1968	November 7, 1970	Nino Benvenuti	WBA, WBC	4
November 7, 1970	February 9, 1974	Carlos Monzón	WBA, WBC	9
Monzon was stripped of the WBC championship for not facing his mandatory challenger, Rodrigo Valdez.
June 26, 1976	July 30, 1977	Carlos Monzón	WBA, WBC	1
November 5, 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	Marvin Hagler	WBA, WBC, IBF	12
Hagler was recognized as the inaugural IBF champion, adding the belt to his undisputed status. He lost the IBF and WBA belt recognitions after deciding to fight Sugar Ray Leonard. He lost the WBC belt after losing to Leonard.
September 29, 2001	July 16, 2005	Bernard Hopkins	WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO	6
Bernard Hopkins became the undisputed champion after defeating Félix Trinidad in a Middleweight tournament to successfully unify the WBC WBA and IBF belts. He later added the WBO to his undisputed status after defeating Oscar De La Hoya, becoming the first man to ever hold all four titles simultaneously.
July 16, 2005	December 14, 2006	Jermain Taylor	WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO	0
Taylor lost his IBF belt for taking a rematch against Hopkins instead of fighting the IBF #1 challenger Arthur Abraham. He officially lost his undisputed status after being stripped of his WBA belt on December 14, 2006

Light middleweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title defenses
1962-10-20	1963-04-29	Denny Moyer	WBA, WBC	2
1963-04-29	1963-09-07	Ralph Dupas	WBA, WBC	0
1963-09-07	1965-06-18	Sandro Mazzinghi	WBA, WBC	1
1965-06-18	1966-06-25	Nino Benvenuti	WBA, WBC	0
1966-06-25	1968-05-26	Ki Soo Kim	WBA, WBC	2
1968-05-26	1968-10-25-Stripped	Sandro Mazzinghi	WBA, WBC	0
1969-03-17	1970-07-09	Freddie Little	WBA, WBC	2
1970-07-09	1971-10-31	Carmelo Bossi	WBA, WBC	0
1971-10-31	1974-06-04	Koichi Wajima	WBA, WBC	6
1974-06-04	1975-01-21	Oscar Albarado	WBA, WBC	1
1975-01-21	1975-03-22	Koichi Wajima	WBA, WBC	0
March 13, 2004	November 20, 2004	Winky Wright	WBA, WBC, IBF	0
Winky Wright became the first undisputed champion of the light middleweight division after unifying his IBF belt with Shane Mosley's WBA and WBC belts. Wright lost the IBF belt for taking a rematch against Mosley.

Welterweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title defenses
March 21, 1963	June 8, 1963	Luis Manuel Rodríguez	WBA, WBC	0
June 8, 1963	December 10, 1965	Emile Griffith	WBA, WBC	6
Emile Griffith relinquished the title after moving to the middleweight division.
November 28, 1966	April 18, 1969	Curtis Cokes	WBA, WBC	5
Cokes reunited the titles after defeating Jean Josselin.
April 18, 1969	December 3, 1970	José Nápoles	WBA, WBC	3
December 3, 1970	June 4, 1971	Billy Backus	WBA, WBC	0
June 4, 1971	May 1975	José Nápoles	WBA, WBC	9
Nápoles gave up the WBA belt after rematching Armando Muniz.
September 16, 1981	February 15, 1982	Sugar Ray Leonard	WBA, WBC	1
Sugar Ray Leonard unified his WBC with Thomas Hearns's WBA to become the first undisputed champ in seven years. Leonard later relinquished the title after retiring from boxing because of a detached retina.
December 6, 1985	September 27, 1986	Donald Curry	WBA, WBC, IBF	1
Donald Curry unified his WBA and IBF titles with Milton McCrory's WBC title to become the next undisputed champ.
September 27, 1986	1987	Lloyd Honeyghan	WBA, WBC, IBF	2
Honeyghan later relinquished the WBA title in protest at the body's approval of world title fights being staged in Apartheid South Africa.
December 13, 2003	February 5, 2005	Cory Spinks	WBA, WBC, IBF	2
Spinks won the undisputed title by unifying his IBF belt with Ricardo Mayorga's WBC and WBA belts.
February 5, 2005	January 7, 2006	Zab Judah	WBA, WBC, IBF	1
Judah lost his undisputed championship to Carlos Baldomir, but despite being recognized as the "true" welterweight champion, Baldomir did not pay the sanctioning fees for the WBA or IBF. Consequently, the WBA relinquished Judah as its champion, while the IBF continued to recognise him. Judah later lost the IBF title to Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

Light welterweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title 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 Junior Welterweight champ after defeating Zab Judah to successfully unify his WBA and WBC belt with Judah's IBF belt. Tszyu was stripped of the WBA and WBC titles because of extended inactivity due to training injuries and lost his IBF belt to Ricky Hatton.

Lightweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title defenses
April 7, 1963	April 10, 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	WBA, WBC	5
June 29, 1968	February 18, 1969	Carlos Cruz	WBA, WBC	1
February 18, 1969	March 3, 1970	Mando Ramos	WBA, WBC	0
March 3, 1970	September 15, 1970	Ismael Laguna	WBA, WBC	0
Laguna gave up the WBC title.
February 12, 1971	June 25, 1971	Ken Buchanan	WBA, WBC	1
Buchanan gave up the WBC title after a contractual dispute, although he is still recognized as the true champion.
January 21, 1978	January 1979	Roberto Durán	WBA, WBC	0
Duran, the WBA champion, won the undisputed title after defeating WBC Champion Estaban De Jesus. Duran gave up the titles after moving up to the welterweight division.
August 11, 1990	January 18, 1992	Pernell Whitaker	WBA, WBC, IBF	3
Whitaker, the unified IBF and WBC champion, won Juan Nazario's WBA belt becoming the undisputed champ . Whitaker relinquished all of the belts after moving to the junior welterweight division.

Super featherweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title 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	January 19, 1969	Hiroshi Kobayashi	WBA, WBC	0
Kobayashi is stripped of his WBC title for failing to fight Rene Barrientos, despite a written agreement.

Featherweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title defenses
March 21, 1963	September 26, 1964	Sugar Ramos	WBA, WBC	0
September 26, 1964	October 14, 1967	Vicente Saldivar	WBA, WBC	7
Saldivar retired after his title defense against Howard Winstone.

Bantamweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title defenses
September 11, 1962	May 18, 1965	Eder Jofre	WBA, WBC	2
May 18, 1965	February 27, 1968	Fighting Harada	WBA, WBC	4
February 27, 1968	August 22, 1969	Lionel Rose	WBA, WBC	3
August 22, 1969	October 16, 1970	Ruben Olivares	WBA, WBC	2
October 16, 1970	April 2, 1971	Chucho Castillo	WBA, WBC	0
April 2, 1971	March 19, 1972	Ruben Olivares	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
Pinder was stripped of the WBC belt shortly after winning the title for not defending against Rodolfo Martinez.

Super flyweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition	Title defenses
July 5, 1984	March 30, 1986	Jiro Watanabe	WBA, WBC	3
Watanabe had his WBA title stripped for unifying the Super Flyweight championship with the WBC champion Payao Poontarat. He was regarded as the undisputed champion until his loss to Gilberto Roman.

Flyweight

Reign began	Reign ended	Champion	Recognition
September 18, 1963	January 23, 1964	Hiroyuki Ebihara	WBA, WBC
January 23, 1964	April 23, 1965	Pone Kingpetch	WBA, WBC
April 23, 1965	November, 1965	Salvatore Burruni	WBA, WBC

References

↑ "Undisputed world champion". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved April 1, 2016.

External links

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World professional boxing champions

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