Tim Littles (born November 2, 1964, in Sharon, Connecticut) was an American boxer in the super middleweight division.
Known as "The Doctor of Styles", Littles had a successful amateur career.
Littles turned pro in 1989 and became a super middleweight contender during the early to mid 1990s. His name will forever be linked with his nemesis Frankie Liles who was the WBA super middleweight champion for a stretch during the 1990s. The two fought 3 times as amateurs, starting a rivalry between the two men that would last the rest of their careers. Of the three times they fought as amateurs, Liles won every fight.
Around the same time Liles also turned pro and made their way up the rankings around the same pace. It seemed inevitable they would clash again. Littles and Liles were both fringe contenders, unbeaten, and on the verge of cracking the top ten when they met for the first time in the pro ranks. Littles would win by a 12-round decision, avenging his losses as an amateur and securing his standing as a legit contender as a pro. Liles would rebound very well after the loss, winning the WBA title from Steve Little and scoring wins over Merqui Sosa and Michael Nunn. Littles also earned himself a title shot, but he was matched much tougher than Liles was when he received his title shot; pound for pound entrant James Toney stopped Littles in the fourth round, giving him his first defeat.
Tim had two comeback fights, both KO wins, and then challenged his old rival one last time for Liles' piece of the title. Liles accepted the challenge and on June 8, 1996, a war was waged, which Liles won on a third-round TKO. This was the end of their rivalry and also effectively ended Tim Littles' career. Apart from his win over Liles, Littles' best wins were over Antoine Byrd and John Scully. All three of those bouts happened in succession in what can be considered Tim's prime.
Thomas Hearns is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra", and more famously "The Hitman", Hearns's tall, slender build and oversized arms and shoulders allowed him to move up over fifty pounds in his career and become the first boxer in history to win world titles in five weight divisions: welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight.
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 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.
Sergio Mora is an American former professional boxer. He is a former WBC light middleweight champion, and twice challenged for the WBA (Regular) middleweight title. He was the first winner of NBC's The Contender series.
Peter Manfredo Jr. is a former American professional boxer and former IBO middleweight champion. He has challenged twice for upper-level world titles, at middleweight and super middleweight, as well as having won the NABO, IBU and European Boxing Association (EBA) light middleweight titles.
Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Michael John Nunn is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2002. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the IBF middleweight title from 1988 to 1991, and the WBA super middleweight title from 1992 to 1994. During both those reigns, he also held the lineal championship. In 2004, Nunn was sentenced to 24 years in prison for drug trafficking; he was released in February 2019.
Chad Dawson is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019. He has held multiple light heavyweight world championships, and was one of the most highly regarded boxers in that division between 2006 and 2013. Dawson rose to prominence on the world stage in 2007, when he defeated Tomasz Adamek to become the WBC light heavyweight champion. After vacating that title, he defeated Antonio Tarver in 2008 to win the IBF and IBO titles, and defeated him in a rematch in 2009.
Byron Deangelo-Tarone Mitchell is an American former professional boxer who fought from 1996 to 2012. He was the Lineal and two-time WBA super middleweight champion, winning the titles in 1999 and 2001.
Frank ("Frankie") Liles is an American former professional boxer who held the Lineal and WBA super-middleweight titles.
Steve Little was an American former professional boxer who competed from 1983 to 1998, having held the WBA super middleweight champion in 1994. He is best known for his victories over Pipino Cuevas and Michael Nunn.
Carl Martin Froch, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2014, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the World Boxing Council (WBC) title twice between 2008 and 2011, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title from 2012 to 2015, and the World Boxing Association (WBA) title from 2013 to 2015. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles between 2004 and 2008, and won the Lonsdale Belt in 2006. As an amateur, in the middleweight division, Froch won a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships, and the ABA title twice.
Sakio Bika is a Cameroonian-born Australian professional boxer. He held the WBC super-middleweight title from 2013 to 2014, and previously the IBO super-middleweight title from 2008 to 2010. In 2015 he challenged once for the unified light-heavyweight world title, and in 2007 won the third season of The Contender reality TV series.
Daniel Geale is an Australian former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2016. He held the unified WBA (Super) and IBF middleweight titles between 2011 and 2013, and the IBO middleweight title from 2007 to 2009. As an amateur boxer, Geale won a welterweight gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Paul James Smith Jr. is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2017, and has since worked as a commentator. He held the English middleweight title in 2008, the British super-middleweight title twice between 2009 and 2014, and challenged three times for a super-middleweight world title. As an amateur, he won a silver medal in the light middleweight division at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Jermell DeAvante Charlo is an American professional boxer. He is currently a unified light middleweight world champion, having previously held the undisputed championship from 2022 to September 2023. His identical twin brother, Jermall Charlo, is also a professional boxer and a world champion. As of May 2022, Jermell is ranked as the world's tenth best active boxer, pound for pound, by The Ring and the TBRB. He is also ranked as the world's best active light middleweight by the TBRB, BoxRec, The Ring and ESPN.
Ernest Mateen, nicknamed 'M-16', was a United States and IBU Cruiserweight (boxing) champion. He was shot to death by his wife in a case of probable self-defense.
John Ryder is a British professional boxer. He has held interim super-middleweight world titles twice, and has challenged twice for full world titles in that weight class, including the undisputed championship. At regional level, he has challenged twice for the British middleweight title and once for the British super-middleweight title.
Maciej Sulęcki is a Polish professional boxer who challenged for the WBO middleweight title in 2019.
Dmitry Yuryevich Bivol is a Russian professional boxer who has held the World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight title since 2017. As an amateur, he won a gold medal at the 2013 World Combat Games in the 81 kg weight category. As of November 2022, Bivol is ranked as the world's third best active boxer, pound for pound, by BoxRec, fifth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), sixth by The Ring, and seventh by the Boxing Writers Association of America and ESPN. He is also ranked as the best light heavyweight by The Ring, ESPN, and BoxRec, and second by TBRB.
Dennis Hogan is an Irish professional boxer who is a former IBO Super Welterweight World Champion and has challenged for world championships in two weight classes; the WBO light-middleweight and WBC middleweight titles, both in 2019.