A septuple champion in boxing refers to a boxer who has won world titles in seven different categories of weight.
There is some dispute on which sanctioning body is considered "major" enough to award championships. The "Big 4" sanctioning bodies are always included. They are arranged in order of foundation:
The Ring , boxing's most respected magazine, has awarded world championships in professional boxing within each weight class from its foundation in 1922 until the 1990s, and again since 2001. The Ring champions were at one point held the linear reign to the throne, the man who beat the man. The lineal champion is also known as the true champion of the division. The Ring stopped giving belts to world champions in the 1990s but began again in 2002.
In 2002, The Ring attempted to clear up the confusion regarding world champions by creating a championship policy. It echoed many critics' arguments that the sanctioning bodies in charge of boxing championships had undermined the sport by pitting undeserving contenders against undeserving "champions", and forcing the boxing public to see mismatches for so-called "world championships". The Ring attempted to clear up the confusion regarding world champions by creating a championship policy 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. Furthermore, a fighter cannot be stripped of the title unless he loses, decides to move to a different weight division, or retires.
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 magazine's number-one and number-two rated contenders (or, sometimes, number-one and number-three rated). A vacant Ring championship is filled when the number-one contender in a weight-division battles the number-two contender or the number-three contender (in cases where The Ring determines that the number-two and number-three contenders are close in abilities and records).
In May 2012, citing the number of vacancies in various weight classes as primary motivation, The Ring unveiled a new championship policy. Under the new policy, The Ring title can be awarded when the No. 1 and No. 2 fighters face one another or when the Nos. 1 and 2 contenders choose not to fight one another and either of them fights No. 3, No. 4 or No. 5, the winner may be awarded The Ring belt. In addition, there are now six ways for a fighter to lose his title: lose a fight in his championship weight class; move to another weight class; not schedule a fight in any weight class for 18 months; not schedule a fight in his championship weight class for 18 months, even if fighting at another weight class; not scheduling a fight with a top 5 contender in any weight class for two years; or retiring.
Many media outlets and members are extremely critical of the new championship policy and state that if this new policy is followed The Ring title will lose the credibility it once held.
The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) hands out the official version of the lineal championship. TBRB awards vacant championships when the two top-ranked fighters in any division meet and currently recognizes legitimate world champions or "true champions" each weight classes. The Board was formed to continue where The Ring "left off" in the aftermath of its purchase by Golden Boy Promotions in 2007 and the following dismissal of Nigel Collins. After the new editors announced a controversial new championship policy in May 2012, three prominent members of the Ring Advisory Panel resigned. This three members (Springs Toledo, Cliff Rold and Tim Starks) became the founding members of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, which was formed over the summer of 2012 with the assistance of Stewart Howe of England.
Since 2012, lineal champions are predetermined by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, which promotes the concept of a singular world champion per weight class. [1] Lineal champions are listed on Cyber Boxing Zone website which list lineal champions of the Queensberry Era to date. [2]
The International Boxing Organization (IBO) is sometimes included in the list of major boxing organizations. Besides the IBO, there are other sanctioning bodies. They are: International Boxing Association (IBA), International Boxing Council (IBC), International Boxing Board (IBB), International Boxing League (IBL), International Boxing Union (IBU), Global Boxing Association (GBA), Global Boxing Council (GBC), Global Boxing Federation GBF, Global Boxing Organization (GBO), Global Boxing Union (GBU), National Boxing Association (NBA), Transcontinental World Boxing Association (TWBA), Universal Boxing Association (UBA), Universal Boxing Council (UBC), Universal Boxing Federation (UBF), Universal Boxing Organization (UBO), UNIBOX, United States Boxing Council (USBC), World Athletic Association (WAA), World Boxing Forum (WBF), World Boxing Board (WBB), World Boxing Championship Committee (WBCC), World Boxing Empire (WBE), World Boxing Foundation (WBFo), World Boxing Institute (WBI), World Boxing League (WBL), World Boxing Network (WBN), World Boxing Union (WBU), World Cup of Boxing (WCOB), World Junior Boxing Federation (WJBF), World Tournament Boxing Federation (WTBF) and the World United Boxing Association (WUBA).
Note:
The following is a list of septuple champions who have held titles from one or more of the "Big Four" organizations (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO) and The Ring.
World Titles from The Ring |
No. | Name | Titles | Date | Opponent | Result | Defenses |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Manny Pacquiao [3] | WBC Flyweight (112) | Dec 4, 1998 | Chatchai Sasakul | KO 8/12 | 1 |
IBF Super bantamweight (122) | Jun 23, 2001 | Lehlohonolo Ledwaba | TKO 6/12 | 4 | ||
The Ring Featherweight (126) | Nov 15, 2003 | Marco Antonio Barrera | TKO 11/12 | 2 | ||
WBC Super featherweight (130) | Mar 15, 2008 | Juan Manuel Márquez | SD 12/12 | 0 | ||
The Ring Super featherweight (130) | 0 | |||||
WBC Lightweight (135) | Jun 28, 2008 | David Díaz | TKO 9/12 | 0 | ||
The Ring Light welterweight (140) | May 2, 2009 | Ricky Hatton | KO 2/12 | 0 | ||
WBO Welterweight (147) | Nov 14, 2009 | Miguel Ángel Cotto | TKO 12/12 | 3 | ||
WBO Welterweight (147) – (2) | Apr 12, 2014 | Timothy Bradley | UD 12/12 | 1 | ||
WBO Welterweight (147) – (3) | Nov 5, 2016 | Jessie Vargas | UD 12/12 | 0 | ||
WBA (Super) Welterweight (147) | Jul 20, 2019 | Keith Thurman | SD 12/12 | 0 | ||
The following is a list of women’s septuple champions who have held titles from one or more of the "Big Four" organizations (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO) and The Ring.
World Titles from The Ring |
No. | Name | Titles | Date | Opponent | Result | Defenses |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Amanda Serrano [4] | IBF Super featherweight (130) | Sep 10, 2011 | Kimberly Connor | TKO 2/10 | 0 |
WBO Lightweight (135) | Aug 15, 2014 | Maria Elena Maderna | KO 6/10 | 0 | ||
WBO Featherweight (126) | Feb 17, 2016 | Olivia Gerula | TKO 1/10 | 1 | ||
WBO Super bantamweight (122) | Oct 18, 2016 | Alexandra Lazar | TKO 5/10 | 2 | ||
WBO Bantamweight (118) | Apr 22, 2017 | Dahiana Santana | TKO 8/10 | 0 | ||
WBO Light welterweight (140) | Sep 8, 2018 | Yamila Esther Reynoso | UD 10/10 | 0 | ||
WBO Super flyweight (115) | Jan 18, 2019 | Eva Voraberger | TKO 1/10 | 0 | ||
WBO Featherweight (126) – (2) | Sep 13, 2019 | Heather Hardy | UD 10/10 | 4 | ||
WBC Featherweight (126) | Feb 4, 2021 | Interim promoted [5] | 4 | |||
IBF Featherweight (126) | Sep 24, 2022 | Sarah Mahfoud | UD 10/10 | 1 | ||
The Ring Featherweight (126) | 1 | |||||
WBA Featherweight (126) | Feb 4, 2023 | Erika Cruz | UD 10/10 | 0 |
Some fighters of this group or club were not satisfied to win just the incredible milestone of championships in seven different weight divisions but to reach immortality in eight other different divisions or categories. At present, only one boxer in history has ever achieved to become Octuple Champion or a boxer who has won different titles in eight different categories of weight. Manny Pacquiao won his November 13, 2010 bout against Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBC World Super Welterweight Title, and became the first ever Octuple Champion in history of boxing.
The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO). The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded in the United States in 1921 by 13 state representatives as the NBA, in 1962 it changed its name in recognition of boxing's growing popularity worldwide and began to gain other nations as members.
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), and International Boxing Federation (IBF). The WBO's headquarters are located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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Roberto Garcia Cortez is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2001, and held the IBF junior lightweight title from 1998 to 1999. He has since worked as a boxing trainer, and was voted Trainer of the Year by The Ring magazine in 2011, and by the Boxing Writers Association of America in 2012. He is the older brother of professional boxer Mikey Garcia, who was a world champion in four weight classes.
Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield, billed as Finally, was a professional boxing match fought between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson for the WBA heavyweight championship on November 9, 1996, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The bout was Tyson's first defense of the WBA title that he had won from Bruce Seldon on September 7 of that year.
Nonito Gonzales Donaire Jr. is a Filipino American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from flyweight to featherweight, and is the oldest boxer in history to win a bantamweight world title, as well as being the first three-time champion in that weight class. Donaire has also held world championships in three consecutive decades: the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, being the sixth boxer to do so after Evander Holyfield, Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Erik Morales, and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
A grand slam champion, also known as a quadruple champion, occurs in different sports when a competitor wins four crowns, titles, medals, belts or another distinction. The definition varies depending on the sport.
In different sports an athlete who wins five crowns, titles, medals, belts, or other distinctions is called a Quintuple Champion.
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".
In different sports when a sportsman wins seven crowns, titles, medals, belts or another distinctions is called a Septuple Champion.
An octuple champion is a boxer who has won major world titles in eight different weight classes. Manny Pacquiao is the only boxer in history to have won twelve major world titles in eight different weight divisions.
Below is a list of world heavyweight boxing championship records and statistics.
The history of boxing in the Philippines is the history of boxing and the evolution and progress of the sport in the Philippines. In the Philippines, boxing is one of its most popular sports, together with basketball, due to the many accolades it has brought to the country, having produced 45 major world champions, one of the most in the world. Despite not having won a gold medal in boxing, the Philippines has had multiple Olympic standouts, with 8 out of its 12 total Olympic medals coming from boxing, along with some of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport. Filipino greats like Pancho Villa, Flash Elorde and Ian Medallo Alegrado are members of the two highly respected boxing hall of fames – International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) and World Boxing Hall of Fame (WBHF) thus, giving the Philippines the most number of boxing hall of fame members out of Asia.