List of current world boxing champions

At least since John L. Sullivan, in the late 19th century, there have been world boxing champions. The first of today's organizations to award a world title was the World Boxing Association, known as the National Boxing Association when it sanctioned its first title fight in 1921 between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier for the heavyweight championship.

There are now four major sanctioning bodies in professional boxing. The official rules and regulations of the World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization all recognize the other three major sanctioning bodies in their rankings and title unification rules. Each of these organizations sanction and regulate championship bouts and award championships. American boxing magazine The Ring began awarding world championship belts in 1922.

There are seventeen weight divisions. To compete in a weight class, a boxer's weight must not exceed the upper limit. Manny Pacquiao has won world championships in eight different weight classes, more than any other boxer. The Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, hold all five major titles in the heavyweight division. They are the first brothers to hold versions of the heavyweight championship at the same time.

Championships

When a champion, for reasons beyond his control such as an illness or injury, is unable to defend his title within the normal mandatory time, the sanctioning bodies may order an interim title bout and award the winner an interim championship. The WBA and WBC may change the status of their inactive champions to Champion in Recess.

World Boxing Association

The World Boxing Association (WBA) was founded in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA)—a national regulating body of the United States. On August 23, 1962, the NBA became the WBA, which today has its head office in Panama. According to WBA championship rules, when a champion holds a title of one of the other three major sanctioning bodies in an equivalent weight class, the boxer is granted special recognition: he is called the unified champion and is given more time between mandatory title defences. The WBA Championships Committee and President may designate a champion as a Super Champion in exceptional circumstances. The WBA title is vacated if it is one of the titles the respective boxer holds. When a WBA champion makes between five and ten successful defences, he may be granted the WBA "Super" title upon discretion of a vote of the WBA's board of governors.

World Boxing Council

The World Boxing Council (WBC) was founded in Mexico City, Mexico on February 14, 1963 in order to establish an international regulating body. The WBC established many of today's safety measures in boxing, such as the standing eight-count, a limit of 12 rounds instead of 15, and additional weight classes. To read about the WBC's Diamond and Emeritus Champions, please see the separate article about the WBC.

International Boxing Federation

The International Boxing Federation (IBF) originated in September 1976 as the United States Boxing Association (USBA) when American members of the WBA withdrew in order to legitimize boxing in the United States with "unbiased" ratings. In April 1983, the organization established an international division that was known as the United States Boxing Association-International (USBA-I). In May 1984, the New Jersey-based USBA-I was renamed and became the IBF.

World Boxing Organization

The World Boxing Organization (WBO) was founded in San Juan, Puerto Rico (which is a self-governing commonwealth of the United States) in 1988. Its motto is "dignity, democracy, honesty." When a WBO champion has reached "preeminent status" the WBO's Executive Committee may designate him as a "Super Champion". Besides the beltholders that are called "Super Champion", there are other fighters that have been named "WBO Super Champion" like Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, Kelly Pavlik, Óscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Juan Díaz, Marco Antonio Barrera, Fernando Montiel, Jorge Arce, Iván Calderón. The WBO championships are not universally recognized. Some media sites do not include the WBO in their list of champions, but others do. On December 8, 2012, Juan Manuel Márquez has been named "Fighter of the Decade" by the WBO and was awarded a special belt when beating Manny Pacquiao by KO within six rounds.

The Ring

The Ring is a respected boxing magazine that was founded in 1922, upon which it first began awarding world championship belts. It maintains its own version of lineal championships in each weight class. Title belts ceased to be awarded in the 1990s, but the practice was resumed in 2002. From 2002 onwards, a championship system was created with the intention 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 that of the sanctioning bodies with regards to 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. There are currently three ways that a fighter can win The Ring's title:

• Defeat the reigning champion
• Win a bout between The Ring's #1 and #2 contenders
• If the #1 and #2 contenders chose not to fight each other, if either of them fights the #3, #4 or #5 contender, the winner may be awarded The Ring title belt if the Editorial Board deems the contenders worthy.

Current champions

The current champions in each weight class are listed below. Each champion's professional boxing record is shown in the following format: wins–losses–draws–no contests (knockout wins).

Heavyweight (200+ lb, 90.7+ kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Alexander Povetkin Super champion Russia 27–0–0–0 (17) July 2, 2011	Alexander Povetkin Russia 27–0–0–0 (15) October 11, 2008	Alexander Povetkin Russia 27–0–0–0 (15) April 22, 2006	Alexander Povetkin Super champion Russia 27–0–0–0 (15) February 23, 2008	Alexander Povetkin Russia 27–0–0–0 (15) June 20, 2009

Cruiserweight, Junior heavyweight (200 lb, 90.7 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Denis Lebedev Russia 25–1–0–0 (19) October 30, 2012	Krzysztof Włodarczyk Poland 47–2–1–0 (33) May 15, 2010	Yoan Pablo Hernández Germany 27–1–0–0 (13) October 1, 2011	Marco Huck Germany 35–2–1–0 (25) August 29, 2009	Yoan Pablo Hernández Germany 27–1–0–0 (13) February 4, 2012
Guillermo Jones In recess Panama 38–3–2–0 (30) October 30, 2012			Ola Afolabi Interim champion United Kingdom 19–2–4–0 (9) March 3, 2012

Light heavyweight (175 lb, 79.4 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Beibut Shumenov Kazakhstan 13–1–0–0 (8) January 29, 2010	Chad Dawson United States 31–2–0–2 (17) April 28, 2012	Bernard Hopkins United States 53–6–2–2 (32) March 9, 2013	Nathan Cleverly United Kingdom 26–0–0–0 (12) May 18, 2011	Chad Dawson United States 31–2–0–2 (17) April 28, 2012

Super middleweight (168 lb, 76.2 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Andre Ward Super champion United States 26–0–0–0 (14) November 21, 2009	Daniel Francisco Philippines 28-0-0-0 (27) May 11, 2013	Carl Froch United Kingdom 30–2–0–0 (22) May 26, 2012	Robert Stieglitz Germany 44–3–0–0 (25) March 23, 2013	Andre Ward United States 26–0–0–0 (14) December 17, 2011
Mikkel Kessler Denmark 46–2–0–0 (35) December 8, 2012
Stanyslav Kashtanov Interim champion Ukraine 30–1–0–0 (16) November 10, 2012

Middleweight (160 lb, 72.6 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Gennady Golovkin Kazakhstan 26–0–0–0 (23) October 14, 2010	Sergio Gabriel Martínez Argentina 51–2–2–0 (28) September 15, 2012	Daniel Geale Australia 29–1–0–0 (15) May 7, 2011	Peter Quillin United States 29–0–0–0 (21) October 20, 2012	Sergio Gabriel Martínez Argentina 51–2–2–0 (28) April 17, 2010
Martin Murray Interim champion United Kingdom 25–1–1–0 (11) November 24, 2012

Super welterweight, Junior middleweight (154 lb, 69.9 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Floyd Mayweather Jr Super champion United States 44–0–0–0 (26) May 5, 2012	Saúl Álvarez Mexico 42–0–1–0 (30) March 5, 2011	Ishe Smith United States 25–5–0–0 (11) February 23, 2013	Zaurbek Baysangurov Russia 28–1–0–0 (20) October 5, 2011	Saúl Álvarez Mexico 42–0–1–0 (30) April 20, 2013
Saúl Álvarez Unified champion Mexico 42–0–1–0 (30) April 20, 2013

Welterweight (147 lb, 66.7 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Paul Malignaggi United States 32–4–0–0 (7) April 29, 2012	Floyd Mayweather Jr United States 44–0–0–0 (26) September 17, 2011	Devon Alexander United States 24–1–0–0 (13) October 20, 2012	Timothy Bradley United States 30–0–0–1 (12) June 9, 2012	Floyd Mayweather Jr United States 44–0–0–0 (26) May 4, 2013
Diego Gabriel Chaves Interim champion Argentina 22–0–0–0 (18) July 21, 2012

Super lightweight, Junior welterweight (140 lb, 63.5 kg)

WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO	The Ring
Danny García Super champion United States 26–0–0–0 (16) July 14, 2012	Danny García United States 26–0–0–0 (16) March 24, 2012	Lamont Peterson United States 31–1–1–0 (16) December 10, 2011	Juan Manuel Márquez Super champion Mexico 55–6–1–0 (40) June 9, 2012	Danny García United States 26–0–0–0 (16) July 14, 2012
Khabib Allakhverdiev Russia 18–0–0–0 (8) November 30, 2012 Lightweight (135 lb, 61.2 kg) WBA WBC IBF WBO The Ring Richar Abril Cuba 18–3–1–0 (8) February 26, 2013 Adrien Broner United States 26–0–0–0 (22) November 17, 2012 Miguel Vázquez Mexico 33–3–0–0 (13) August 14, 2010 Ricky Burns United Kingdom 36–2–0–0 (11) March 10, 2012 vacant Super featherweight, Junior lightweight (130 lb, 59 kg) WBA WBC IBF WBO The Ring Takashi Uchiyama Super champion Japan 20–0–1–0 (17) May 6, 2013 Takashi Miura Japan 25–2–2–0 (19) April 8, 2013 Argenis Méndez Dominican Republic 21–2–0–0 (11) March 9, 2013 Román Martínez Puerto Rico 27–1–2–0 (16) September 15, 2012 vacant vacant Featherweight (126 lb, 57.2 kg) WBA WBC IBF WBO The Ring Chris John Super champion Indonesia 48–0–3–0 (22) July 23, 2009 Abner Mares Mexico 26–0–1–0 (14) May 4, 2013 Evgeny Gradovich Russia 16–0–0–0 (8) March 1, 2013 Mikey García United States 31–0–0–0 (26) January 19, 2013 Nicholas Walters Jamaica 22–0–0–0 (18) December 8, 2012 Super bantamweight, Junior featherweight (122 lb, 55.3 kg) WBA WBC IBF WBO The Ring Guillermo Rigondeaux Unified champion Cuba 12–0–0–0 (8) April 13, 2013 Victor Terrazas Mexico 37–2–1–0 (21) April 20, 2013 Jonathan Romero Colombia 23–0–0–0 (12) February 16, 2013 Guillermo Rigondeaux Cuba 12–0–0–0 (8) April 13, 2013 vacant Scott Quigg Interim champion United Kingdom 25–0–1–0 (18) November 24, 2012 Bantamweight (118 lb, 53.5 kg) WBA WBC IBF WBO The Ring Anselmo Moreno Super champion Panama 33–2–1–0 (12) November 16, 2010 Shinsuke Yamanaka Japan 18–0–2–0 (13) November 6, 2011 Jamie McDonnell United Kingdom 21–2–1–0 (9) May 11, 2013 Paulus Ambunda Namibia 20–0–0–0 (10) March 2, 2013 vacant Koki Kameda Japan 30–1–0–0 (17) December 26, 2010 Super flyweight, Junior bantamweight (115 lb, 52.2 kg) WBA WBC IBF WBO The Ring Liborio Solís Venezuela 15–3–1–0 (7) May 6, 2013 Srisaket Sor Rungvisai Thailand 19–3–1–0 (18) May 3, 2013 Juan Carlos Sánchez Jr Mexico 15–1–1–0 (8) February 11, 2012 Omar Andrés Narváez Super champion Argentina 38–1–2–0 (20) May 15, 2010 vacant Flyweight (112 lb, 50.8 kg) WBA WBC IBF WBO The Ring Milan Melindo Unified champion Philippines 29–0–0–0 (12) April 6, 2013 Akira Yaegashi Japan 17–3–0–0 (9) April 8, 2013 Moruti Mthalane South Africa 29–2–0–0 (20) November 20, 2009 Milan Melindo Philippines 29–0–0–0 (12) April 6, 2013 Akira Yaegashi Japan 17–3–0–0 (9) April 8, 2013 Juan Carlos Reveco Argentina 30–1–0–0 (16) December 4, 2012 align="center" Light flyweight, Junior flyweight (108 lb, 49 kg) WBA WBC IBF WBO The Ring Román González Super champion Nicaragua 34–0–0–0 (28) November 28, 2012 Adrián Hernández Mexico 27–2–1–0 (16) October 6, 2012 John Riel Casimero Philippines 18–2–0–0 (10) July 19, 2012 Donnie Nietes Philippines 31–1–4–0 (17) October 8, 2011 vacant Kazuto Ioka Japan 12–0–0–0 (8) December 31, 2012 [[Rex Abad ]] Interim champion Peru 30–8–0–1 (13) April 14, 2012 Minimumweight, Strawweight, Mini flyweight (105 lb, 47.6 kg) WBA WBC IBF WBO The Ring Ryo Miyazaki Japan 19–0–3–0 (11) December 31, 2012 Xiong Zhao Zhong China 20–4–1–0 (11) November 24, 2012 Katsunari Takayama Japan 25–6–0–1 (10) March 30, 2013 Merlito Sabillo Philippines 21–0–0–0 (11) April 10, 2013 vacant Jesús Silvestre Interim champion Mexico 27–3–0–0 (20) July 14, 2012 See also Weight class (boxing) Ring Magazine pound for pound References Specific General "BoxRec title search". BoxRec.com. Retrieved May 7, 2007. "IBF-USBA official ratings". International Boxing Federation. April 25, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2007. "WBA official ratings". World Boxing Association. March 2009. Retrieved March 2, 2009. "The Ring Ratings". The Ring. February 9, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) "WBC official ratings". World Boxing Council. September 2009. Retrieved September 5, 2009. "Rankings - World Boxing Organization". World Boxing Organization. October 2011. Retrieved January 7, 2011.