Since we love to look at other boxers to get inspired, we have come again with the third list of 11 boxing idols of all time. Whenever you want some motivation or simply learn about the history of the sport and who have been the best and famous boxers on the planet, you need to keep reading!
Check out the first and second part of the boxing idols series and don’t forget to leave a comment below if we left one of your idols in boxing out!
Tyson Fury
Tyson Fury, also known as Gypsy King and The Furious One is a professional boxer from England. He is a two-time heavyweight world champion and was ranked by ESPN as the world’s best active heavyweight. He has represented Ireland and England in the ring.
Born in 1988, three months premature and weighing only one pound, he was named after Mike Tyson, the then-undefeated heavyweight world champion. When he was ten years old, he started boxing, trained by his father until 2011 when he was jailed.
His father used to be a professional boxer, as well as one of his half-brothers and several cousins. He has suffered from mental health issues that have led to alcoholism, extreme weight gain and recreational drug use. Because of this, he vacated his WBA, WBO and IBO titles in 2016 and The Ring magazine’s heavyweight championship title in 2018.
His comeback occurred later that year, motivated by Deontay Wilder who had said publicly that “Fury was done”. The fight against the two boxers took place and Fury won.
Gennady Golovkin
Born in 1982, Gennady Golovkin is one of the favorite boxers of all time. He is from Kazakhstan and a two-time world middleweight champion. In 2018, The Ring named him the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world and in 2019, he was ranked the world’s best active middleweight by BoxRec and second by The Ring magazine.
This fighter is best known for his powerful and precise punching. Also, for his great balance and methodical movement in the ring. He was encouraged by his two older brothers to start boxing at the age of eight. They would all go out in the streets and pick fights with other people. Tragically, both of his older brothers died in 1990 and 1994 while serving with the Soviet Army.
He joined the boxing gym at the age of ten with Victor Dmitriev as his coach. When he was 11, he entered his first boxing competition and won the Karaganda Regional tournament in the cadet division. Several years later, he was accepted to the Kazakh National Boxing Team and started to compete internationally.
Golovkin graduated from Karagandy State University Athletics and Sports Department, receiving a degree, and a PE teacher qualification.
Canelo Álvarez
Another one of the fan-favorite boxers is Mexican Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán, better known as Canelo Álvarez. He is a professional boxer and a four-division world champion. Since 2018 he has held the unified WBA, WBC The Ring and lineal middleweight titles.
In boxing, he is known for being an excellent counterpuncher and take advantage of openings in his opponents’ guards. He is also a great body puncher. Since November 2019, he is ranked as the best active boxer in the world, pound for pound.
Álvarez was born in 1990 in Guadalajara, Mexico and grew up on a farm where he learned horseback riding. He is the youngest of eight children, seven of them are boys. They all became professional boxers too, some of them even became champions.
His nickname Canelo comes from the Spanish word “cinnamon”. It was given to him because of his red hair. He began boxing at the age of 13, inspired by his brother Rigoberto. He won a silver medal in 2004 at the Junior Mexican National Championships in Sinaloa, and in 2005 he became Junior Mexican Boxing Champion.
Deontay Wilder
Another favorite boxer for many is Deontay Wilder. He was born in 1985 in Alabama and held the WBC heavyweight title from 2015 to 2020. In February this year, he was ranked as the world’s third-best active heavyweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
However, Deontay started to box late at the age of 20, compared to other boxing idols who usually start when they are very young. In 2008 as an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the Summer Olympics and earned his nickname “The Bronze Bomber”.
This boxer is mostly known for great punching power and to have knocked out every opponent he has ever faced, except Tyson Fury.
He has eight children and confessed to having suffered in the past from depression.
Anthony Joshua
Anthony Joshua was born in 1989 and he is an English professional boxer. He is also a two-time unified heavyweight champion. In 2011 he won a silver medal at the AIBA World Boxing Championships in the super-heavyweight division as an amateur. He also represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics where he won a gold medal.
In 2014, having turned professional, he was named Prospect of the Year by The Rind magazine. As of February 2020, he is ranked as the world’s best active heavyweight by BoxRec and second by The Ring magazine and Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
His mother is Nigerian and his father is of Nigerian and Irish descent. He spent some time in Nigeria as a child where he attended boarding school. He returned to the UK when he was 12. Even though he had a late start in boxing, he was always practicing sports. He excelled at football and athletics when he was young. Joshua began boxing in 2007 when he was 18.
Naoya Inoue
Another one of the boxing idols on our list is from Japan. Naoya Inoue was born in 1993 and he is a three-weight world champion and, at the moment, a unified bantamweight world champion.
One of his nicknames is “Monster” because of his amazing punching power and body attacks. His knock-out ratio is 84%. As an amateur, he won the Japanese Interscholastic Athletic Meeting and the Japanese Junior National Championships in 2009. In 2010 he won the bronze medal in the Asian Youth Championships in Tehran, Iran, and won the Japanese Junior Selection Tournament.
As a professional boxer since 2012, he signed an agreement to never fight “easy” opponents. He is ranked since December 2019, as the world’s best active bantamweight by BoxRec and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB). In addition, he is also ranked as the world’s second-best active boxer, pound for pound, by the TBRB, third by The Ring and fourth by ESPN.
Terence Crawford
Born in 1987, Terence Crawford is another great boxer on our list. He is from Nebraska and has held multiple world championships in three weight classes. He also became the first boxer to simultaneously hold all four major world titles in boxing (WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO) since Jermain Taylor in 2005. Currently, Terence ranks as the world’s second-best active boxer, pound for pound by BoxRec and ESPN.
Crawford started boxing at the age of seven and fought 70 official amateur bouts. Before the 2008 Olympics took place, he won three amateur tournaments. However, he did not make it to the event after losing to Sadam Ali.
In March 2008, he became professional. He is known for his fast hand speed, punching power and defense skills. Also, for his counter-punching and switching from orthodox to southpaw abilities.
In September 2016 he was found guilty of criminal mischief and trespassing and was charged with theft of services, criminal mischief and third-degree assault and trespassing at a local car body shop. He was then sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk is a Ukrainian professional boxer born in 1987. Until he vacated his titles, he was the undisputed cruiserweight champion from July 2018 to March 2019. He was also the first cruiserweight ever to hold all four major world championships (WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO).
He also won several championships as an amateur. In 2011 at the World Championships and in 2012 in the Olympics in the heavyweight division where he won gold. As of December 2019, he is ranked as the world’s fifth active boxer, pound for pound, by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and The Ring and sixth by ESPN.
Usyk was born in Ukraine and played association football until he was 15. He switched to boxing in 2002 and also graduated from Lviv State University of Physical Culture.
Errol Spence Jr.
Next on our list is Errol Spence Jr. He is an American professional boxer and a unified welterweight champion. He also represented the United States at the 2012 Olympics reaching the quarter-finals.
As an amateur, he won the US National Golden Gloves and also the national amateur welterweight championships from 2009 to 2011. He turned pro in 2012 at 22 years old and made his debut at the Fantasy Springs Casino.
This boxer is of Jamaican descent and was born in New York. In 2019 he was involved in a car accident and had to be hospitalized in the intensive care unit. He was driving his Ferrari at a very high speed when he lost control of the vehicle and flipped multiple times. He was ejected from the car since he was not wearing a seat belt. He had several facial lacerations but no broken bones. After being discharged six days later from the hospital he was charged with a DWI.
Mikey Garcia
Mikey Garcia or Miguel Ángel García Cortez is a professional boxer from California. He was born in 1987 and has held multiple world championships in four weight classes. He is ranked as the world’s tenth best active boxer, pound for pound, by ESPN, and also as the world’s best active light-weight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, TBRB.
Garcia was born to Mexican parents and his father was also an amateur boxer and trainer of Fernando Vargas, a world boxing champion. His older brother, Roberto, was also a professional boxer and a former IBF Super Featherweight Champion. The oldest one of his brothers was also a boxer and a trainer.
He began his amateur career at 14 and won a silver medal at the National Junior Olympic Championships. He won a gold medal at the National Junior Golden Gloves Championships and a silver medal at the National Police Athletic League Championships.
Garcia is known as a patient fighter and also for his punching power. He also likes to switch to southpaw every now and then, despite being right-handed. In 2006, he became a professional fighter and was undefeated in his first 20 encounters. He has also promoted brain damage prevention along with other athletes.
Archie Moore
Finally, last on our list is one of the most favorite boxers of all time, Archie Moore. Born in 1916, he was an American professional boxer. He was also the longest-reigning World light heavyweight champion of all time from December 1952 to May 1962.
He competed from 1935 to 1963, making him one of the professional boxers with the longest careers in this sport. His nickname was “The Mongoose” and then “The Old Mongoose” when he got older.
Moore was a strategical and defensive boxer and he is in the fourth place of The Ring magazine’s “100 greatest punchers of all time”. After he retired, he became a trainer for a short period of time, training Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and James Tillis, to name a few.
This boxer was born in Mississippi and grew up in poverty. He was also a victim of racism during his career and became an important figure in the African American community. In addition to boxing, he established himself as an actor in television and film.
He passed away at 81 years old in his home in San Diego, California.
