List of world cruiserweight boxing champions

This is a chronological list of world cruiserweight boxing champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations:

"List of Cruiserweight Champions" redirects here. For a list of Cruiserweight Championships in professional wrestling, see Cruiserweight (professional wrestling) § Major championships.

Championship recognition
Reign began Reign ended Champion Recognition
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.
25 November 1980 13 February 1982 Carlos De León Universal
13 February 1982 27 June 1982 Carlos De Leon WBC
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.
27 June 1982 17 July 1983 S. T. Gordon WBC
17 July 1983 6 June 1985 Carlos De León WBC
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.
6 October 1984 25 October 1986 Lee Roy Murphy IBF
1 December 1984 27 July 1985 Piet Crous WBA
6 June 1985 21 September 1985 Alfonso Ratliff WBC
27 July 1985 12 July 1986 Dwight Muhammad Qawi (Dwight Braxton) WBA
21 September 1985 22 March 1986 Bernard Benton WBC
22 March 1986 9 April 1988 Carlos De León WBC
12 July 1986 15 May 1987 Evander Holyfield WBA
25 October 1986 15 May 1987 Rickey Parkey IBF
15 May 1987 9 April 1988 Evander Holyfield WBA & IBF
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.
25 March 1989 25 September 19892 Taoufik Belbouli WBA
Belbouli defeated Michael Greer to win the vacant title.
17 May 1989 27 July 1990 Carlos De León WBC
De Leon defeated Sammy Reeson to win the vacant title.
3 June 1989 22 March 1990 Glenn McCrory IBF
McCrory defeated Patrick Lumumba to win the vacant title.
27 November 1989 8 March 1991 Robert Daniels WBA
Daniels defeated Dwight Muhammad Qawi to win the vacant title.
3 December 1989 17 May 1990 Boone Pultz WBO
Pultz defeated Magne Havnå to win the inaugural WBO cruiserweight title.
22 March 1990 27 July 19911 Jeff Lampkin IBF
17 May 1990 1 May 1992 Magne Havnå2 WBO
27 July 1990 20 July 1991 Massimiliano Duran WBC
8 March 1991 5 August 19932 Bobby Czyz WBA
20 July 1991 7 July 19952 Anaclet Wamba WBC
7 September 1991 30 July 1992 James Warring IBF
Warring defeated James Pritchard to win the vacant title.
25 July 1992 13 February 1993 Tyrone Booze WBO
Booze defeated Derek Angol to win the vacant title.
30 July 1992 30 April 19962 Alfred Cole IBF
13 February 1993 26 June 1993 Markus Bott WBO
26 June 1993 17 December 1994 Nestor Hipolito Giovannini WBO
6 November 1993 22 July 1995 Orlin Norris WBA
Norris defeated Marcelo Victor Figueroa to win the vacant title.
17 December 1994 1 January 19952 Dariusz Michalczewski WBO
10 June 1995 4 October 1997 Ralf Rocchigiani WBO
Rocchigiani defeated Carl Thompson to win the vacant title.
22 July 1995 8 November 1997 Nate Miller WBA
25 July 1995 21 February 1998 Marcelo Dominguez WBC
Dominguez defeated Akim Tafer to win the vacant title.
31 August 1996 21 June 1997 Adolpho Washington IBF
Washington defeated Torsten May to win the vacant title.
21 June 1997 8 November 1997 Uriah Grant IBF
4 October 1997 27 March 1999 Carl Thompson WBO
8 November 1997 30 October 1998 Imamu Mayfield IBF
8 November 1997 9 December 2000 Fabrice Tiozzo WBA
21 February 1998 19 February 20022 Juan Carlos Gómez WBC
30 October 1998 5 June 1999 Arthur Williams IBF
27 March 1999 22 September 20062 Johnny Nelson WBO
5 June 1999 26 April 2003 Vassiliy Jirov IBF
9 December 2000 23 February 2002 Virgil Hill WBA
23 February 2002 2 April 2005 Jean-Marc Mormeck WBA
11 October 2002 2 April 2005 Wayne Braithwaite WBC
Braithwaite defeated Vincenzo Cantatore to win the vacant title.
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.
26 April 2003 9 December 20032 James Toney IBF
1 May 2004 20 May 20052 Kelvin Davis IBF
Davis defeated Ezra Sellers to win the vacant title.
20 May 2005 7 January 2006 O'Neil Bell IBF
Bell defeated Dale Brown to win the vacant title.
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.
27 January 2006 24 November 2007 Virgil Hill WBA (regular champion)
Hill defeated Valery Brudov to win the vacant WBA "regular" title.
31 March 2006 17 March 2007 O'Neil Bell WBA (super champion) & WBC
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.
26 November 2006 26 May 2007 Krzysztof Włodarczyk IBF
Wlodarczyk defeated Steve Cunningham to win the vacant title.
17 March 2007 10 November 2007 Jean-Marc Mormeck WBA (super champion), WBC
26 May 2007 11 December 2008 Steve Cunningham IBF
10 November 2007 8 March 2008 David Haye WBA (super champion), WBC
24 November 2007 28 September 2008 Firat Arslan WBA (regular champion)
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.
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.
28 October 2008 22 November 2009 Giacobbe Fragomeni WBC
Fragomeni defeated Rudolf Kraj to win the vacant title.
11 December 2008 18 October 20092 Tomasz Adamek IBF
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.
29 August 2009 14 August 2015 Marco Huck WBO
22 November 2009 22 January 20102 Zsolt Erdei WBC
15 May 2010 27 September 2014 Krzysztof Włodarczyk WBC
Wlodarczyk defeated Giacobbe Fragomeni to win the vacant title.
5 June 2010 1 October 2011 Steve Cunningham IBF
Cunninghum defeated Troy Ross to win the vacant title.
1 October 2011 21 September 20151 Yoan Pablo Hernández IBF
30 October 2012 1 February 2018 Denis Lebedev WBA
29 May 2016 Vacated Tony Bellew WBC
27 September 2014 17 September 2016 Krzysztof Głowacki WBO
21 September 2015 21 May 2016 Victor Emilio Ramirez IBF
21 May 2016 3 December 2016 Denis Lebedev WBA, IBF
17 September 2016 Present Oleksandr Usyk WBO
3 December 2016 21 July 2018 Murat Gassiev IBF
1 April 2017 27 January 2018 Mairis Briedis WBC
27 January 2018 Present Oleksandr Usyk WBO, WBC
3 February 2018 21 July 2018 Murat Gassiev WBA, IBF
21 July 2018 Present Oleksandr Usyk WBO, WBC, WBA, IBF
31 May 2019 Present Arsen Goulamirian WBA

Footnotes
1 Championship recognition withdrawn due to champion's failure/refusal to defend title against mandatory or designated challenger.
2 Relinquished title.

Cruiserweight champions who won belts in other divisions
  • Braxton, Michalczewski, Hill, Adamek and Tiozzo all were light-heavyweight champions.
  • Holyfield and Haye are the only former cruiserweight champions to win the heavyweight title with Holyfield earning recognition as undisputed champions in both divisions.
  • Toney won titles at middleweight and super middleweight. He also defeated John Ruiz in an attempt to win the heavyweight title but failed a post-fight drug test and the result was changed to a No Decision.

See also

References
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