Related Research Articles
Roy Levesta Jones Jr. is an American professional boxer. He has 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 boxer he represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning a light middleweight silver medal after one of the most controversial decisions in boxing history. He is considered one of the greatest fighters in boxing history.
James Nathaniel Toney is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2017. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and lineal middleweight titles from 1991 to 1993, the IBF super middleweight title from 1993 to 1994, and the IBF cruiserweight title in 2003. Toney also challenged twice for a world heavyweight title in 2005 and 2006, and was victorious the first time but was later stripped due to a failed drug test. Overall, he competed in fifteen world title fights across four weight classes.
Virgil Eugene Hill is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2007, and in 2015. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBA light heavyweight title twice, from 1987 to 1997; the IBF and lineal light heavyweight titles from 1996 to 1997; and the WBA cruiserweight title twice, from 2000 to 2002 and 2006 to 2007. As an amateur, Hill won a silver medal in the middleweight division at the 1984 Summer Olympics. In 2013, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Cruiserweight, also referred to as junior heavyweight, is a weight class in professional boxing between light heavyweight and heavyweight. Before the advent of the current cruiserweight class, "light heavyweight" and "cruiserweight" were sometimes used interchangeably in the United Kingdom.
Jean-Marc Gilbert Mormeck is a French former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2014. He is a two-time unified world cruiserweight champion, having held the WBA, WBC and The Ring world titles twice between 2005 and 2007. He was the first boxer to hold unified cruiserweight title since Evander Holyfield in 1988, and the first fighter to hold The Ring cruiserweight title since Carlos De León in 1987. He was ranked by BoxRec as the world's top 10 cruiserweight from 2001 to 2005 and in 2007, and was ranked No.1 in 2003 and 2004. Mormeck also challenged for the unified world heavyweight title in 2012.
Enzo Maccarinelli is a retired Welsh former professional boxing world champion who competed from 1999 to 2016. He held the WBO cruiserweight title from 2006 to 2008. At regional level, he held the European and British cruiserweight titles between 2010 and 2012, and the Commonwealth light-heavyweight title in 2013.
Guillermo Jones is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2017. He held the WBA cruiserweight title from 2008 to 2012, and challenged twice for the WBA super welterweight title in 1998.
Muamer Hukić, best known as Marco Huck, is a Bosniak German professional boxer. He held the WBO cruiserweight title from 2009 to 2015, and is the joint-longest reigning cruiserweight world champion of all time, having made thirteen consecutive successful defenses, a division record shared with Johnny Nelson. Huck also held the IBO cruiserweight title from 2016 to 2017, the European cruiserweight title from 2008 to 2009, and has challenged once for the WBA (Regular) heavyweight title in 2012.
Anthony Lewis Bellew is an English former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2018, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held the WBC cruiserweight title from 2016 to 2017. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight titles between 2010 and 2014, the European cruiserweight title from 2015 to 2016. As an amateur, he is a three-time ABA heavyweight champion. He portrayed antagonist boxer Ricky Conlan in the films Creed and Creed III.
Victor Emilio Ramírez is an Argentine former professional boxer. He held the WBO cruiserweight title in 2009 and the IBF cruiserweight from 2015 to 2016. Ramírez announced his retirement in December 2016. He fought once at heavyweight in December 2017.
Yuniel Dorticós Pao is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a two-time former cruiserweight world champion, having held the WBA title from 2017 to 2018 and the IBF title from 2019 to 2020. As of August 2022, he is ranked as the world's third best active cruiserweight by The Ring magazine and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and sixth by BoxRec.
Denis Aleksandrovich Lebedev is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019. He was a unified world cruiserweight champion, having held the WBA title from 2012 to 2018, and the IBF title in 2016.
Lateef Olalekan Kayode is a Nigerian professional boxer who challenged for the WBA cruiserweight title in 2015.
Jai Opetaia is an Australian professional boxer. He held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title from 2022 until 2023. He currently holds the Ring magazine and lineal cruiserweight titles. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2012 Youth World Championships and represented Australia at the 2012 Olympics and 2014 Commonwealth Games. As of February 2023, Opetaia is ranked the world's best active cruiserweight by The Ring magazine, and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, second by BoxRec, and third best by ESPN.
Thabiso Mchunu is a South African professional boxer. He has challenged twice for a world title; first in 2016 for the WBO cruiserweight title. In 2022, he challenged for the WBC cruiserweight title. As of August, 2022, Mchunu is ranked as the world's fifth best cruiserweight according to The Ring, BoxRec and TBRB.
Murat Georgievich Gassiev is a Russian former unified cruiserweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 2016 to 2018, and the WBA (Unified) title in 2018. As of October 2021, he is ranked as the world's ninth-best active heavyweight by BoxRec.
Arsen Goulamirian is an Armenian-born French professional boxer. He previously held the World Boxing Association (WBA) cruiserweight title from 2019 to March 2024. He previously held the WBA cruiserweight title in 2018.
Pavel Mikhailovich Malikov is a Russian professional boxer who held the WBA Asia, WBC-ABC, and WBO Inter-Continental lightweight titles between 2016 and 2018.
Benjamin Karl Kelleher is a New Zealand-born Australian combat sports fighter where he competes in professional boxing, mixed martial arts, kickboxing and Muay Thai.
References
- ↑ "Townsville's Mark "Bam Bam" Flanagan to follow patient boxing plan in Australian cruiserweight title defence title". Townsville Bulletin. 2 December 2014.
- ↑ "Denis Lebedev beats Mark Flanagan to defend WBA cruiserweight title". 9 July 2017.
