Evander Holyfield is an American retired boxer who reigned as the undisputed champion in the late 1980s under cruiserweight division and in the early 1990s under heavyweight division. The only four-time world heavyweight champion, Holyfield remains the only boxer in the history of boxing to reign as an undisputed champion in two weight classes.
Holly Holm is a mixed martial artist. A former world champion in boxing, Holm currently competes in the UFC and holds the distinction of being the first fighter to hold a UFC title and a world boxing title. Her win against Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 is regarded as one of the biggest upsets in the history of combat sports.
Thomas Hearns is an American retired boxer who became the first boxer in the history of boxing to win world titles in five different weight classes. Nicknamed the Hitman, Thomas Hearns was named Fighter of the Year in 1980 by The Ring magazine. He was also named Fighter of the Year in 1984 by the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Tagged by the media as Boxing’s First Lady, Norwegian boxer/kickboxer Cecilia Braekhu scripted history by becoming the first female boxer to hold the WBA, IBF, WBC, and WBO titles at the same time. Colombian-born Braekhu was adopted by a Norwegian couple as a 2-year-old and began boxing as a teenager.
Widely regarded as one of the best active boxers in the world, Anthony Joshua is the first British heavyweight to win both a major world title and an Olympic gold medal. Having avoided a life of crime, Joshua focused solely on boxing; his rags to riches story serves as an inspiration. He is one of the most influential Black Britons.
Micky Ward is an American retired boxer who held the WBU light welterweight championship in 2000. Two of his three fights with Arturo Gatti, for which he is known, earned him The Ring magazine's Fight of the Year awards. Renowned for his pressure fighting style, Ward's career inspired the 2010 movie The Fighter where Ward was played by Mark Wahlberg.
South African boxer, kickboxer, and mixed martial artist Francois Botha has been one of the greatest heavyweight fighters of his country. Nicknamed The White Buffalo, he has fought against the best fighters, such as Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, and registered legendary wins against Axel Schulz and Timo Hoffmann.
Martin Murray is an English retired boxer who competed between 2007 and 2020. From 2011 to 2014, Murray held the World Boxing Association (WBA) interim middleweight title. Between 2010 and 2012, he held the Commonwealth and British middleweight titles.
Jaime Munguía is a Mexican boxer who held the WBO junior middleweight championship title from 2018 to 2019. In 2019, he was named the best active junior middleweight in the world by BoxRec. The same year, Jaime Munguía was also ranked the fifth-best active junior middleweight in the world by The Ring magazine.
Eugene Bullard was an American military pilot who played an important role during World War I. He was among the few black combat pilots at that time and one of the first African-Americans to become a military pilot in the US, although he flew for France during his career. Eugene Bullard was the recipient of several prestigious honors.
While he began boxing at age 9, former British boxer Paul Smith, part of the Smith boxing family, later excelled in both the middleweight and super-middleweight categories. He also won a Commonwealth Games silver in amateur boxing. Also known as the Real Gone Kid, he has been a DJ, too.
Ricardo Mayorga is a Nicaraguan former boxer and mixed martial artist. Often referred to as the craziest man in boxing, Mayorga is known for his antics outside the ring as much as for his achievements inside the ring. An entertaining boxer, 26 out of his 32 wins were knockouts. From 2005 to 2006, he held the WBC super welterweight title.
Former British boxer David Haye, or The Haymaker, was a WBA world heavyweight and world cruiserweight champion. He is best remembered for his record-breaking WBA title win against Russian boxer Nikolai Valuev, who was both taller and heavier than him. He owns a boxing promotion firm and a vegan protein brand.
Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain was born into a poor family in Assam and was initially interested in Muay Thai. The Arjuna Award winner made waves after winning a bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She has also won medals at the Asian Championship and the World Championship.
Known as British boxing’s golden boy, Ricky Hatton has been both a light-welterweight and welterweight world champion. His popularity has earned him nicknames such as The Manchester Mexican and The Hitman. He now owns a boxing promotion firm, contributes to children’s charitable causes, and has also been a successful trainer.
Richard Grant is a Jamaican-born American retired boxer. He is the former EBA Super Middleweight and Light Heavyweight champion. He is best known for his 2001 nationally-televised bout against James Butler. After losing the match to Grant, Butler met an unsuspecting Grant in the middle of the ring and landed a right hook to the jaw; Grant received 26 stitches.
Olympic gold medal-winning British boxer Luke Campbell also has a European Championship gold and a World Championship silver in his kitty. The Hull-born lightweight champion retired in 2021, at age 33. He had once hidden the news of his father’s death and competed in a game days later.
Vyacheslav Glazkov is a Ukrainian retired boxer. He is best known for winning a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Vyacheslav Glazkov competed from 2009 to 2016, before retiring because of an anterior cruciate ligament injury, which he incurred in a fight against Charles Martin for the IBF heavyweight title in 2016.