Lennox Claudius Lewis is a former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and remains the last heavyweight to hold the undisputed championship. Holding dual British and Canadian citizenship, Lewis represented Canada as an amateur at the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division after defeating Riddick Bowe in the final.
George Edward Foreman is an American former professional boxer, entrepreneur, minister and author. As a professional boxer, he was nicknamed "Big George" and competed between 1969 and 1997. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion and an Olympic gold medalist. As an entrepreneur, he is known for the George Foreman Grill.
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.
Rocco Francis Marchegiano, better known as Rocky Marciano, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955, and held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He is the only heavyweight champion to have finished his career undefeated. His six title defenses were against Jersey Joe Walcott, Roland La Starza, Ezzard Charles (twice), Don Cockell and Archie Moore.
Evander Holyfield is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and remains the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes. Nicknamed "the Real Deal", Holyfield is the only four-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBA, WBC, and IBF titles from 1990 to 1992, the WBA and IBF titles again from 1993 to 1994, the WBA title a third time from 1996 to 1999; the IBF title a third time from 1997 to 1999 and the WBA title for a fourth time from 2000 to 2001.
Leon Spinks is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1995. In only his eighth professional fight, he won the undisputed heavyweight championship in 1978 after defeating Muhammad Ali in a split decision, in what was considered one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. Spinks was later stripped of the WBC title for facing Ali in an unapproved rematch seven months later, which he lost by unanimous decision.
Roy Levesta Jones Jr. is an American former professional boxer, boxing commentator, boxing trainer, rapper, and actor who holds dual American and Russian citizenship. He competed in boxing from 1989 to 2018, and held multiple world championships in four weight classes, including titles at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight, and is the only boxer in history to start his professional career at light middleweight and go on to win a heavyweight title. As an amateur, he represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the light middleweight division after one of the most controversial decisions in boxing history.
Robert James "Bob" Fitzsimmons was a British professional boxer who was the sport's first three-division world champion. He also achieved fame for beating Gentleman Jim Corbett, and he is in The Guinness Book of World Records as the lightest heavyweight champion, weighing just 165 pounds when he won the title. Nicknamed Ruby Robert and The Freckled Wonder, he took pride in his lack of scars and appeared in the ring wearing heavy woollen underwear to conceal the disparity between his trunk and leg-development.
Hasim Sharif Rahman is an American retired professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal titles in 2001; and the WBC title again from 2005 to 2006. He was ranked as the world's top 10 heavyweight by BoxRec from 2000 to 2005, and reached his highest ranking of world No.6 at the conclusion of 2004.
Ezzard Mack Charles, known as the Cincinnati Cobra, was an American professional boxer and World Heavyweight Champion. Known for his slick defense and precision, he is considered one of the greatest fighters of all time by boxing critics and is often known as the greatest light heavyweight boxer of all time. As of December 2020, BoxRec ranks Charles as the greatest pound-for-pound boxer of all time with 1,860 points. He is also the first fighter to have surpassed 1,000 points in BoxRec ratings at the conclusion of a year. Charles has won 20 fights rated by BoxRec as 5-Star, including eight at heavyweight. Charles defeated numerous Hall of Fame fighters in three different weight classes. Charles won more fights than any other heavyweight champion in boxing history, having retired with a record of 95 wins, 25 losses and 1 draw.
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Light heavyweight, or junior cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory authority to guarantee the fighters' safety. Most high-profile bouts obtain the endorsement of a sanctioning body, which awards championship belts, establishes rules, and assigns its own judges and referees.
Odlanier Solís Fonte is a Cuban professional boxer. He has challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2011, and is a former top-rated contender in that division. As an amateur heavyweight, Solis was one of the most celebrated and decorated amateur stars of the 2000s, winning a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, and three consecutive golds at the World Championships in 2001, 2003, and 2005.
Marcelino Novaes Rodrigues Fil is a retired boxer from Brazil, who won the bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 1999 Pan American Games, together with Jamaica's Kerron Speid. Nicknamed, Robocop, he made his professional debut in 2001.
Tyson Luke Fury is a British professional boxer. He is a two-time heavyweight world champion, having held the WBC, The Ring magazine and lineal titles since defeating Deontay Wilder in February 2020; previously he held the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, The Ring, and lineal titles after defeating Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. With his defeat of Wilder, Fury became the third heavyweight, after Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali, to hold The Ring magazine title twice, and the first heavyweight in history to have held the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring magazine titles. As of December 2020, he is ranked as the world's best active heavyweight by ESPN, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), and BoxRec, as well as the second-best active boxer, pound for pound, by BoxRec, sixth by the TBRB, and eighth by ESPN. He is only the second heavyweight in history to have scored 1,000+ points at the conclusion of any year by BoxRec. As of 2020, Fury has won three fights rated by BoxRec as 5-Star.
In combat sports where champions are decided by a challenge, the lineal championship of a weight class is a world championship title held initially by an undisputed champion and subsequently by a fighter who defeats the reigning champion in a match at that weight class. In professional boxing, the lineal champion is informally called "the man who beat the man".
Jamaica competed at the 13th Pan American Games, which were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from July 23 to August 8, 1999.
Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua, is a British professional boxer of Nigerian descent who is a two-time unified heavyweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles since December 2019 and previously between 2016 and June 2019. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles from 2015 to 2016.
