Michael Spinks is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1988. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed light heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985, and the lineal heavyweight title from 1985 to 1988. As an amateur he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
John Mugabi is a Ugandan former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1999. He held the WBC super-welterweight title from 1989 to 1990, and challenged twice for world titles at middleweight, including the undisputed championship.
Boxing in the 1980s was filled with important fights, events and personalities that shaped the sport. Boxing in the 1980s was shaped by many different situations, such as the continuous corporate battles between the different world sanctioning organizations, the void left by Muhammad Ali as the sport's ambassador and consequent search for a new boxing hero, the continuous presence of Don King as the sport's most famous promoter, the surge of rival promoters as Bob Arum, Butch Lewis and Murad Muhammad, and major rule changes. In 1986, Mike Tyson emerged as a fresh new face in the heavyweight division, which had seen a decline in champion quality level after Ali's retirement and, later on, after longtime WBC ruler Larry Holmes' prime. In addition, the IBF and WBO began operating.
The boxing competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia was held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour. The event was only open to men and bouts were contested over four rounds of two minutes each. Five judges scored the fighters in real time and the boxer with the most points at the end was the winner.
Christopher Cornelius Byrd is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2009. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having first won the WBO title in 2000 after an upset corner stoppage over then-undefeated Vitali Klitschko. In his first title defense later that year, he lost to Vitali's brother Wladimir Klitschko. In 2002, Byrd defeated Evander Holyfield to win the IBF heavyweight title for his second reign as world champion. He made four successful defenses until losing his title again to Wladimir Klitschko in a 2006 rematch. He was ranked by BoxRec in the world's top 10 heavyweight from 1998 to 2004, reaching his highest ranking of No.3 in 2000.
Mike McCallum is a Jamaican former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1997. He held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBA super welterweight title from 1984 to 1988, the WBA middleweight title from 1989 to 1991, and the WBC light heavyweight title from 1994 to 1995.
Glengoffe Donovan Bartholomew Johnson is a Jamaican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2015. He held the IBF, IBO and Ring magazine light heavyweight titles between 2004 and 2005, and challenged once each for world titles at middleweight and super middleweight.
Suriya Prasathinphimai is a Thai boxer who competed in the Middleweight (75 kg) at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the bronze medal. He qualified for the 2004 Athens Games by ending up in second place in the 2nd AIBA Asian 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Karachi, Pakistan. In the final he lost to Pakistan's Ahmed Ali Khan.
Kenneth John W. "Kenny" Anderson is a Scottish former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2012. At regional level, he held the Celtic super middleweight title in 2009 and the British super middleweight title in 2012. As an amateur he won a gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in the light-heavyweight division.
David Dejiro Defiagbon was a Nigerian boxer. Nicknamed "The Dream", Defiagbon fought for Canada and won the heavyweight silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Howard Grant is a retired male Canadian boxer, competing in the light-welterweight division. A resident of Montréal, Quebec, he represented Canada at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, where he was defeated in the round of 16 by Sweden's Lars Myrberg.
Chris Finnegan MBE was a British professional boxer of Irish descent born in Iver, Buckinghamshire, England.
John Anthony Conteh, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1971 to 1980. He held the WBC light-heavyweight title from 1974 to 1977, and regionally the European, British and Commonwealth titles between 1973 and 1974. As an amateur, he represented England and won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. In 2017, Conteh was awarded an MBE for services to boxing at the Queen's Birthday Honours.
Claressa Maria Shields is an American professional boxer and professional mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in five weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title in March 2021; the undisputed female middleweight title twice between 2019 and 2024, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) female light heavyweight title and the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Federation (WBF) female heavyweight titles since July 2024; WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles from 2017 to 2018. Shields currently holds the record for becoming a two and three division world champion in the fewest professional fights. As of October 2022, she is ranked the world's best active female middleweight by BoxRec, as well as the best active female boxer, pound for pound, by ESPN and The Ring.
George Oywello was a Ugandan boxer. Born in Gulu, Uganda, Oywello competed for Uganda in both the 1960 Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. In 1964 boxing in the heavyweight competition he was beaten by eventual gold medal winner, Joe Frazier. He died in a car accident in 1965.
Joseph Kennedy St-Pierre is a Mauritian boxer who represented Mauritius at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where he competed in the men's heavyweight competition. He is a two time African Games gold medalist and a one time Commonwealth Games silver medalist. St-Pierre has also competed in another Commonwealth Games and an African Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament.
Benjamin G. Whittaker is an English professional boxer who has held the IBF International light-heavyweight title since June 2024. As an amateur, he won a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Patrick Pakuliki Mailata is a Samoan born, New Zealand raised professional boxer. As an amateur, he won three New Zealand national elite championships from 2012 to 2014 and a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Julius Luipa was a Zambian boxer who won two silver medals at the Commonwealth Games and represented Zambia at the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games. One of Zambia's best amateur boxers, he was the country's Sportsman of the Year in 1970 and when he turned professional four years later, he defeated George Chisenga to become Zambian light heavyweight champion and held the title until he was dethroned by Lottie Mwale in 1977.
Francis Were Nyangweso was a Ugandan boxer. He competed in the men's light middleweight event at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He later went on to work in sports administration in Uganda, as well as becoming a general in the Ugandan Army, before being caught up in a bribery scandal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
