This is a list of current men's professional boxing rankings, which includes the latest rankings by each one of the sport's four major sanctioning bodies, as well as other well-regarded sites and entities.
As professional boxing has four major sanctioning bodies (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO) each with their own champions, the sport doesn't have a centralized ranking system. The rankings published by these organizations share the trait of not ranking the other organizations' champions, as each one of the sanctioning bodies expects their champion to frequently defend their title against their top-ranked contender. The WBA often has more than one champion, none of which are ranked by the other 3 sanctioning bodies. Their "Super" and "Regular" champions are excluded from the rankings but their "Interim" champion is affixed to the #1 spot. The IBF's protocol is for the top 2 spots in its rankings to remain vacant until two of its other top-ranked contenders face off, at which point the winner takes one of those two places.
In addition to the rankings published by the major sanctioning bodies, the TBRB and The Ring each publish their own independent rankings, not excluding any organizations' champions. The aim of both the TBRB and The Ring is to crown a single champion for each division. These lists are subjective and derived by a committee. Since the 90s, other parties have experimented with objective computerized rankings, but these are sometimes regarded as incapable of accounting for all of boxing's quirks and subtleties. [1] [2] The most widely known computerized rankings are published by BoxRec and updated daily. [3] The following is a list compiling the latest instalment of all the previously mentioned rankings. There are 18 weight classes ranging from Heavyweight to Strawweight.
C | Champion |
S | Super champion |
R | Regular champion |
I | Interim champion |
Rank | BoxRec | TBRB | The Ring | WBA | WBC | IBF | WBO | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | — | — | — | Evgeny Tishchenko | Łukasz Różański | — | — | |
1 | — | — | — | Zhaoxin Zhang | Lawrence Okolie | — | — | |
2 | — | — | — | Julio César La Cruz | Andrew Tabiti | — | — | |
3 | — | — | — | Evgenyi Romanov | Adam Balski | — | — | |
4 | — | — | — | Roman Fress | Alen Babić | — | — | |
5 | — | — | — | Ryad Merhy | Ryad Merhy | — | — | |
6 | — | — | — | Badou Jack | Kris Terzievski | — | — | |
7 | — | — | — | Muslim Gadzhimagomedov | Zhaoxin Zhang | — | — | |
8 | — | — | — | Leon Harth | Carlouse Welch | — | — | |
9 | — | — | — | Andrew Tabiti | Alexis Barriere | — | — | |
10 | — | — | — | Kem Ljungquist | Tom Schwarz | — | — |
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.
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO).
The International Boxing Organization (IBO) is a US based corporation that sanctions professional boxing matches and awards world and regional championships.
Mini flyweight, also known as strawweight, minimumweight or super atomweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
In boxing, the undisputed champion of a weight class is the boxer who simultaneously holds world titles from all major organizations recognized by each other and the International Boxing Hall of Fame. There are currently four major sanctioning bodies: WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBF. There were many undisputed champions before the number of major sanctioning bodies recognizing each other increased to four in 2007, but there have only been 20 boxers to hold all four titles simultaneously.
The following tables show the professional boxers listed in the latest top-10 pound for pound world rankings published by each of:
In combat sports where champions are decided by a challenge, the lineal championship in a weight class represents an intangible world title initially held by the victor of a bout between top contenders in the division, as commonly interpreted. An alternative, less mainstream perspective suggests that vacancies in divisional championships can only be filled by an undisputed champion. A fighter who defeats the reigning champion in a match within that weight class becomes the next lineal champion. In professional boxing, the informal term for the lineal champion is "the man who beat the man."
Naoya Inoue is a Japanese professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes, and is only the second male boxer in history to become the undisputed champion in two weight classes in the four-belt era. Nicknamed "Monster", Inoue is known for his exceptional punching power, possessing a knockout-to-win percentage of 88.88%, and 90.90% in world title matches.
Dmitry Yuryevich Bivol is a Russian professional boxer who has held the World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight title since 2017 and the International Boxing Organization (IBO) title since 2023. As an amateur, he won a gold medal at the 2013 World Combat Games in the 81 kg weight category. As of January 2024, Bivol is ranked as the world's sixth best active boxer, pound for pound, by BoxRec, fourth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), sixth by The Ring, seventh by the Boxing Writers Association of America and fourth by ESPN. He is also ranked as the second-ranked best light heavyweight by The Ring, ESPN, TBRB and BoxRec.
Murodjon Kakharovich Akhmadaliev is an Uzbekistani professional boxer. He is a former unified super-bantamweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), and IBF titles between 2020 and 2023. As an amateur, he won a silver medal at the 2015 World Championships and a bronze at the 2016 Olympics as a bantamweight. As of April 2021, he is ranked as the world's best active super-bantamweight by The Ring, fourth by BoxRec and second best by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
Marlon Tapales is a Filipino professional boxer. He has held world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super) and IBF super-bantamweight titles from April to December 2023, and previously the WBO bantamweight title from 2016 to 2017.
In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. The opposite of a mandatory defence is a voluntary defence, against an opponent who might offer greater revenue potential than a mandatory challenger.