This is a chronological list of world cruiserweight boxing champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations:
No. | Reign began | Reign ended | Champion | Recognition | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 31 March 1980 | 25 November 1980 | Marvin Camel | Universal | |
Camel and Mate Parlov fought to a draw in the first Cruiserweight championship bout on 12 August 1979, sanctioned by the World Boxing Council. Camel won the rematch to become champion. Since the WBC was the only sanctioning body to recognize a Cruiserweight division at the time, he is considered by some an undisputed champion. | |||||
2 | 25 November 1980 | 13 February 1982 | Carlos De León | Universal | |
3 | 13 February 1982 | 27 June 1982 | Carlos De Leon | WBC | |
4 | 13 February 1982 | 1 December 1984 | Ossie Ocasio | WBA | |
Ocasio defeated Robbie Williams in the first Cruiserweight championship bout sanctioned by the World Boxing Association. | |||||
5 | 27 June 1982 | 17 July 1983 | S. T. Gordon | WBC | |
6 | 17 July 1983 | 6 June 1985 | Carlos De León | WBC | |
7 | 13 February 1983 | 6 October 1984 | Marvin Camel | IBF | |
Just as he had done with the WBC title, Camel became the first champion in the division crowned by the International Boxing Federation, defeating Roddy McDonald to win the vacant title. | |||||
8 | 6 October 1984 | 25 October 1986 | Lee Roy Murphy | IBF | |
9 | 1 December 1984 | 27 July 1985 | Piet Crous | WBA | |
10 | 6 June 1985 | 21 September 1985 | Alfonso Ratliff | WBC | |
11 | 27 July 1985 | 12 July 1986 | Dwight Muhammad Qawi (Dwight Braxton) | WBA | |
12 | 21 September 1985 | 22 March 1986 | Bernard Benton | WBC | |
13 | 22 March 1986 | 9 April 1988 | Carlos De León | WBC | |
14 | 12 July 1986 | 15 May 1987 | Evander Holyfield | WBA | |
15 | 25 October 1986 | 15 May 1987 | Rickey Parkey | IBF | |
16 | 15 May 1987 | 9 April 1988 | Evander Holyfield | WBA & IBF | |
17 | 9 April 1988 | 4 December 19882 | Evander Holyfield | Universal | |
Holyfield unified his titles with Carlos De Leon's WBC title, making him the division's first truly undisputed champion. | |||||
18 | 25 March 1989 | 25 September 19892 | Taoufik Belbouli | WBA | |
Belbouli defeated Michael Greer to win the vacant title. | |||||
19 | 17 May 1989 | 27 July 1990 | Carlos De León | WBC | |
De Leon defeated Sammy Reeson to win the vacant title. | |||||
20 | 3 June 1989 | 22 March 1990 | Glenn McCrory | IBF | |
McCrory defeated Patrick Lumumba to win the vacant title. | |||||
21 | 27 November 1989 | 8 March 1991 | Robert Daniels | WBA | |
Daniels defeated Dwight Muhammad Qawi to win the vacant title. | |||||
22 | 3 December 1989 | 17 May 1990 | Boone Pultz | WBO | |
Pultz defeated Magne Havnå to win the inaugural WBO cruiserweight title. | |||||
23 | 22 March 1990 | 27 July 19911 | Jeff Lampkin | IBF | |
24 | 17 May 1990 | 1 May 1992 | Magne Havnå2 | WBO | |
25 | 27 July 1990 | 20 July 1991 | Massimiliano Duran | WBC | |
26 | 8 March 1991 | 5 August 19932 | Bobby Czyz | WBA | |
27 | 20 July 1991 | 7 July 19952 | Anaclet Wamba | WBC | |
28 | 7 September 1991 | 30 July 1992 | James Warring | IBF | |
Warring defeated James Pritchard to win the vacant title. | |||||
29 | 25 July 1992 | 13 February 1993 | Tyrone Booze | WBO | |
Booze defeated Derek Angol to win the vacant title. | |||||
30 | 30 July 1992 | 30 April 19962 | Alfred Cole | IBF | |
31 | 13 February 1993 | 26 June 1993 | Markus Bott | WBO | |
32 | 26 June 1993 | 17 December 1994 | Nestor Hipolito Giovannini | WBO | |
33 | 6 November 1993 | 22 July 1995 | Orlin Norris | WBA | |
Norris defeated Marcelo Victor Figueroa to win the vacant title. | |||||
34 | 17 December 1994 | 1 January 19952 | Dariusz Michalczewski | WBO | |
35 | 10 June 1995 | 4 October 1997 | Ralf Rocchigiani | WBO | |
Rocchigiani defeated Carl Thompson to win the vacant title. | |||||
36 | 22 July 1995 | 8 November 1997 | Nate Miller | WBA | |
37 | 25 July 1995 | 21 February 1998 | Marcelo Dominguez | WBC | |
Dominguez defeated Akim Tafer to win the vacant title. | |||||
38 | 31 August 1996 | 21 June 1997 | Adolpho Washington | IBF | |
Washington defeated Torsten May to win the vacant title. | |||||
39 | 21 June 1997 | 8 November 1997 | Uriah Grant | IBF | |
40 | 4 October 1997 | 27 March 1999 | Carl Thompson | WBO | |
41 | 8 November 1997 | 30 October 1998 | Imamu Mayfield | IBF | |
42 | 8 November 1997 | 9 December 2000 | Fabrice Tiozzo | WBA | |
43 | 21 February 1998 | 19 February 20022 | Juan Carlos Gómez | WBC | |
44 | 30 October 1998 | 5 June 1999 | Arthur Williams | IBF | |
45 | 27 March 1999 | 22 September 20062 | Johnny Nelson | WBO | |
46 | 5 June 1999 | 26 April 2003 | Vassiliy Jirov | IBF | |
47 | 9 December 2000 | 23 February 2002 | Virgil Hill | WBA | |
48 | 23 February 2002 | 2 April 2005 | Jean-Marc Mormeck | WBA | |
49 | 11 October 2002 | 2 April 2005 | Wayne Braithwaite | WBC | |
Braithwaite defeated Vincenzo Cantatore to win the vacant title. | |||||
50 | 2 April 2005 | 7 January 2006 | Jean-Marc Mormeck | WBA & WBC | |
Upon unifying the WBA and WBC titles against Wayne Braithwaite, the WBA upgraded Mormeck to the title of "super champion" and the "regular" title was declared vacant. | |||||
51 | 26 April 2003 | 9 December 20032 | James Toney | IBF | |
52 | 1 May 2004 | 20 May 20052 | Kelvin Davis | IBF | |
Davis defeated Ezra Sellers to win the vacant title. | |||||
53 | 20 May 2005 | 7 January 2006 | O'Neil Bell | IBF | |
Bell defeated Dale Brown to win the vacant title. | |||||
54 | 7 January 2006 | 31 March 20061 | O'Neil Bell | WBA (super Champion), WBC, & IBF | |
O'Neil Bell defeated Jean-Marc Mormeck on 7 January 2006, by knockout in round 10, unifying his IBF belt with Mormeck's WBA and WBC belts. That distinction lasted just under three months, as the IBF withdrew its recognition of Bell when Bell failed to reach an agreement to fight the organization's mandatory challenger. | |||||
55 | 27 January 2006 | 24 November 2007 | Virgil Hill | WBA (regular champion) | |
Hill defeated Valery Brudov to win the vacant WBA "regular" title. | |||||
56 | 31 March 2006 | 17 March 2007 | O'Neil Bell | WBA (super champion) & WBC | |
57 | 22 September 2006 | 8 March 2008 | Enzo Maccarinelli | WBO | |
Maccarinelli won the interim title by defeating Marcelo Dominguez on 8 July 2006. Upon champion Johnny Nelson's retirement, Maccarinelli was upgraded to full champion status. | |||||
58 | 26 November 2006 | 26 May 2007 | Krzysztof Włodarczyk | IBF | |
Wlodarczyk defeated Steve Cunningham to win the vacant title. | |||||
59 | 17 March 2007 | 10 November 2007 | Jean-Marc Mormeck | WBA (super champion), WBC | |
60 | 26 May 2007 | 11 December 2008 | Steve Cunningham | IBF | |
61 | 10 November 2007 | 8 March 2008 | David Haye | WBA (super champion), WBC | |
62 | 24 November 2007 | 28 September 2008 | Firat Arslan | WBA (regular champion) | |
63 | 8 March 2008 | 12 May 20082 | David Haye | WBA (super champion), WBC, WBO | |
David Haye defeated Enzo Maccarinelli on 8 March 2008 and unified his WBA and WBC titles with Maccarinelli's WBO title. On 12 May, he relinquished his WBC belt and would eventually relinquish the WBA and WBO belts in order to move up in weight. | |||||
64 | 28 September 2008 | 30 October 2012 1 | Guillermo Jones | WBA | |
On 30 October 2012, Guillermo Jones was stripped of the WBA title and named "Champion in Recess" due to his failure to meet mandatory challenger and interim champion Denis Lebedev in a timely manner thus elevating Lebedev to full champion status. The two would eventually meet on 17 May 2013 with Jones knocking Lebedev out in the 11th round of a brutal fight. However, in the post-fight drug screen Jones tested positive for a banned substance and although the fight still stands as a win for Jones, Lebedev was subsequently reinstated as champion. The WBA ordered a rematch that was scheduled to take place on 25 April 2014 however, Jones once again tested positive for a banned substance in the pre-fight drug screen and the rematch was canceled. | |||||
65 | 28 October 2008 | 22 November 2009 | Giacobbe Fragomeni | WBC | |
Fragomeni defeated Rudolf Kraj to win the vacant title. | |||||
66 | 11 December 2008 | 18 October 20092 | Tomasz Adamek | IBF | |
67 | 17 January 2009 | 29 August 2009 | Victor Emilio Ramírez | WBO | |
Ramirez defeated Aleksandr Alekseyev to win the interim title. Once champion David Haye made it clear he would no longer compete in the cruiserweight division, Ramirez was upgraded to full champion status. | |||||
68 | 29 August 2009 | 14 August 2015 | Marco Huck | WBO | |
69 | 22 November 2009 | 22 January 20102 | Zsolt Erdei | WBC | |
70 | 15 May 2010 | 27 September 2014 | Krzysztof Włodarczyk | WBC | |
Wlodarczyk defeated Giacobbe Fragomeni to win the vacant title. | |||||
71 | 5 June 2010 | 1 October 2011 | Steve Cunningham | IBF | |
Cunninghum defeated Troy Ross to win the vacant title. | |||||
72 | 1 October 2011 | 21 September 20151 | Yoan Pablo Hernández | IBF | |
73 | 30 October 2012 | 1 February 2018 | Denis Lebedev | WBA | |
74 | 29 May 2016 | Vacated | Tony Bellew | WBC | |
75 | 27 September 2014 | 17 September 2016 | Krzysztof Głowacki | WBO | |
76 | 21 September 2015 | 21 May 2016 | Victor Emilio Ramirez | IBF | |
77 | 21 May 2016 | 3 December 2016 | Denis Lebedev | WBA, IBF | |
78 | 17 September 2016 | 5 June 2019 | Oleksandr Usyk | WBO | |
79 | 3 December 2016 | 21 July 2018 | Murat Gassiev | IBF | |
80 | 1 April 2017 | 27 January 2018 | Mairis Briedis | WBC | |
81 | 27 January 2018 | 27 March 2019 | Oleksandr Usyk | WBO, WBC | |
82 | 3 February 2018 | 21 July 2018 | Murat Gassiev | WBA, IBF | |
83 | 21 July 2018 | 27 March 2019 | Oleksandr Usyk | WBO, WBC, WBA, IBF, The Ring | |
84 | 31 May 2019 | Present | Arsen Goulamirian | WBA | |
85 | 31 January 2020 | Present | Ilunga Makabu | WBC | |
86 | 26 September 2020 | 2 July 2022 | Mairis Briedis | IBF, The Ring | |
87 | 20 March 2021 | 27 May 2023 | Lawrence Okolie | WBO | |
88 | 2 July 2022 | Present | Jai Opetaia | IBF | |
89 | 27 May 2023 | Present | Chris Billam-Smith | WBO |
1 Championship recognition withdrawn due to champion's failure/refusal to defend title against mandatory or designated challenger.
2 Relinquished title.