Top 10 Cruiserweight Boxers of All Time Rankings

Ranking the best Cruiserweight Boxers of all time in boxing such as Juan Carlos Gómez, Oleksander Usyk, Evander Holyfield, and many more

By admin | June 1, 2022

Honorable Mention

Dwight Muhammad Qawi

Dwight Muhammad Qawi Was an American former professional boxer who competed from 1978 to 1998. Qawi was one of the most popular fighters of his time, and he also won the WBA cruiserweight title. Though he is not in our rankings, he deserves an honorable mention.

James Toney

James Toney is another excellent former fighter who deserves an honorable mention. He won the IBF cruiserweight world title from Vassiliy Jirov but was unable to defend it. However, he did become a unified world champion at middleweight, and super middleweight.

Top 10 Cruiserweight Boxers

10. Vassiliy Jirov

Vassiliy Jirov is a former professional boxer from Kazakhstan, who competed between 1997 and 2009.

Jirov won Gold in the 1996 Olympics as a light-heavyweight. As a professional competing at cruiserweight, he won multiple regional titles and the IBF Cruiserweight world title as well, which he defended 5 times.

Vassiliy Jirov retired with a boxing record of 38 wins, 3 losses, and 1 draw.

9. Anaclet Wamba

Anaclet Wamba was a Congolese professional boxer from France who remained active from 1982 to 1994.

Wamba was the WBC cruiserweight world champion, and he held the title for the better part of 4 years, with 6 title defenses. Wamba retired as the world champion and did not lose the title.

He had a record of 46 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw.

8. Johnny Nelson

Johnny Nelson is a former professional boxer from England, who competed from 1986 to 2005.

Nelson holds the record for the most world title defenses in the cruiserweight divisions. He won multiple regional titles at cruiserweight, including the British and European titles, and in 1999 he won the WBO cruiserweight world title. Nelson remained the champion for over 6 years, defended the title 13 times, and retired as the champion.

He had a record of 45 wins and 12 losses with a couple of draws.

7. Juan Carlos Gómez

Juan Carlos Gómez was a professional boxer from Cuba, and he competed between 1995 and 2014.

His run at heavyweight wasn’t the best, but no one can deny that Gomez was one of the best cruiserweights of his time. He won the WBC International cruiserweight title first and defended it five times before winning the WBC Cruiserweight world title, which he defended an impressive 9 times.

Juan Carlos Gómez retired with a record of 55 wins, 4 losses, and 1 draw.

6. Jean-Marc Mormeck

Jean-Marc Mormeck was a French professional boxer who competed between 1995 and 2014.

Mormeck is a former two-time unified cruiserweight world champion. He held the unified WBA (Unified), WBC, and The Ring cruiserweight titles and also challenged for the IBF title.

Mormeck retired with a boxing record of 37 wins and 6 losses.

5. David Haye

David Haye is a British former professional boxer. He was active from 2002 to 2018.

Haye is a former two-division world champion. At cruiserweight, he won the European title, and then held the unified WBA (undisputed), WBC, WBO, and The Ring cruiserweight world titles.

Haye retired with a boxing record of 28 wins and 4 losses.

4. Mairis Briedis

Mairis Briedis is a professional boxer from Latvia. He started his career in 2009 and is still active.

Mairis Briedis is the current unified IBF and The Ring cruiserweight world champion, and he has also previously held the WBC and WBO cruiserweight world titles.

Briedis currently has a record of 28 wins and only 1 loss.

3. Oleksander Usyk

Oleksander Usyk is a Ukrainian boxer, who started his professional career back in 2013 and is still active.

Usyk won a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics competing at heavyweight, and as a professional, he became the Undisputed Cruiserweight world champion, holding the unified, WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring cruiserweight titles in 2018. In his most recent fight, he won the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles at heavyweight as well.

Usyk currently has an undefeated record of 19 wins and 0 losses.

2. Carlos De León

Carlos De León was a professional boxer from Puerto Rico, and he competed between 1974 and 1995.

Carlos De León is a 4x Cruiserweight world champion. He won the WBC Cruiserweight title in 1980, and though he lost the title after one defense, he won it again in 1983. He also held the unified WBC and The Ring cruiserweight world titles. He defended the world title a total of 9 times.

De Leon retired with a boxing record of 53 wins, 8 losses, and 1 draw.

1. Evander Holyfield

At number 1, we have Evander Holyfield, who is the best Cruiserweight Boxer of all time in the eyes of many fans and experts. He is an American Boxer, who was active between 1984 and 2011.

Holyfield became the undisputed boxing world champion at both cruiserweight and heavyweight. He held the unified WBA, WBC, and IBF cruiserweight titles, and defeated the best cruiserweights of the time.

Holyfield retired with a boxing record of 44 wins, 10 losses, 2 draws, and 1 no contest.

How would you rank these Cruiserweight fighters in boxing history? Rank below to be added in the Power Rankings.