List of cruiserweight boxing champions

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

This is a chronological List of World Cruiserweight Boxing Champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations:

• The World Boxing Association (WBA), founded in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA),
• The World Boxing Council (WBC), founded in 1963,
• The International Boxing Federation (IBF), founded in 1983,
• The World Boxing Organization (WBO), founded in 1988,

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 as 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 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 July 8, 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 March 8, 2008 and unified his WBA and WBC titles with Maccarinelli's WBO title. On May 12, 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 October 30, 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 May 17, 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 April 25, 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 Alexander Alekseev 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	Present	Denis Lebedev	WBA
27 September 2014	Present	Grigory Drozd	WBC
14 August 2015	Present	Krzysztof Głowacki	WBO
21 September 2015	Present	Victor Emilio Ramirez	IBF

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.

List of Cruiserweight Champions Prior to 1980

The cruiserweight class was inaugurated by the WBC in 1979, and the belt was to be decided by the winner of a fight between Mate Parlov and Marvin Camel. The bout ended in a draw, and the champion wasn't crowned until their rematch on 31 March 1980, which was won by Camel. The WBA followed suit in 1982, inaugurating their belt in a battle between Ossie Ocasio and Robbie Williams, which was won by Ocasio.