Honorable Mention

Chris Billam-Smith

Chris Billam-Smith also deserves an honorable mention. He has a record of 16-1, and he is the current  European and Commonwealth Cruiserweight boxing champion. He is also the former WBA Continental cruiserweight champion.

Just recently Chris Billam-Smith defeated Isaac Chamberlain by unanimous decision in a grinding fight. Billam-Smith and Chamberlain produced a fight of the year candidate that Billam-Smith edged out. His next fight is against Lawrence Okolie for the WBO Cruiserweight World Championship on May 27th.

 

Richard Riakporhe

Additionally, Richard Riakporhe is a boxer from Britain, and he has a professional record of 16 wins and 0 losses. He defeated Krzysztof Głowacki in his most recent fight. Both these fighters deserve an honorable mention before we move on to the official rankings.

 

 

 

Top 10 Cruiserweight Boxers

10. Mateusz Masternak

Mateusz Masternak is a professional boxer from Poland, and he has a record of 46 wins and 5 losses. 

Masternak has won multiple regional titles including the  WBA and IBF Inter-Continental cruiserweight titles, and the  WBO European Cruiserweight title.

He faced Armend Xhoxhaj from Kosovo and won via 4th round TKO. In his most recent fight, he faced Jason Whateley and won the fight via UD. His next fight has not been announced yet.

 

 

 

9. Alexei Papin

Alexei Papin is a Russian professional boxer and former kickboxer, with an active boxing record of 14 wins and only 1 loss. 

Papin is the former IBF International Cruiserweight champion, and also challenged Illunga Makabu for the WBC Silver Cruiserweight title. 

He faced off against Dilan Prašović and won via 2nd round knockout. In his most recent fight, he defeated Damir Beljo via KO, and His next fight has not been announced yet.

 

8. Arsen Goulamirian

Title(s):

• WBA Cruiserweight Super Champion

Arsen Goulamirian is an Armenian-born French professional boxer, who has a record of 27 wins and 0 losses. 

Goulamirian is the current WBA Cruiserweight champion of the world. He won the WBA interim title in 2018 and was later promoted to full champion in 2019. He has made three title defenses. 

In his most recent fight, he defeated Alexey Egorov, and his next fight has not been announced yet.

 

 

 

7. Thabiso Mchunu

Thabiso Mchunu is a boxer from South Africa. He has a professional record of 23 wins and 6 losses. 

Mchunu has won multiple regional titles, including the WBC silver cruiserweight title. He has challenged for a world title twice but lost both times.

In his most recent fight, he challenged Illunga Makabu for the WBC cruiserweight title, the fight was very close, however, Mchunu lost via split decision. His next fight has not been announced yet.

 

6. Ilunga Makabu

Ilunga Makabu is a boxer from Congo. He has a professional record of 29 wins and 3 losses. 

Makabu is the former  WBC cruiserweight champion and won the title after defeating Michał Cieślak. He is also the former WBC Silver and WBC International Cruiserweight champion. 

Makabu defended the WBC title twice, before losing it to Badou Jack in his most recent fight. Makabu had a tough fight, getting dropped twice before losing the fight in the 12th round via TKO.

 

5. Yuniel Dorticos

Yuniel Dorticós is a Cuban professional boxer with a record of 26 wins and 2 losses. 

He is a former two-time world champion at cruiserweight. He held the  WBA cruiserweight title from 2017 to 2018 and the IBF cruiserweight title from 2019 to September 2020.  

In his most recent fight, he defeated Deibis Berrocal via TKO, and there is no official announcement about his next fight.

 

4. Badou Jack

Title(s):

• WBC Cruiserweight World Champion

Badou Jack is a Gambian-born Swedish professional boxer and he has a record of 28 wins and 3 losses. 

Jack has held world titles in three weight classes. He is the former WBC super-middleweight champion and WBA light-heavyweight world champion. 

He also currently holds the WBC Cruiserweight title and won it last weekend after defeating Ilunga Makabu. Badou Jack dropped Makabu twice, before finally finishing him in the last round, and getting a TKO win.

 

 

 

3. Mairis Briedis

Mairis Briedis is a Latvian professional boxer with a record of 28 wins and 2 losses. 

Briedis is a three-time world champion at cruiserweight. He won the WBC title in 2017, and the WBO title in 2019, and is also the former unified IBF and the Ring cruiserweight world champion.

However, last weekend, Briedis lost the title to Jai Opetaia. He had a slow start, and even though he rallied in the later rounds, and even broke Opetaia’s jaw, it was too little too late, and he lost via unanimous decision.

 

2. Lawrence Okolie

Title(s):

• WBO Cruiserweight World Champion

Lawrence Okolie is a professional boxer from Great Britain, and he has an undefeated professional record of 18 wins and 0 losses. 

Okolie is the current WBO cruiserweight champion of the world, and he won the title after defeating Krzysztof Głowacki back in March of 2021. He has defended the title twice since. 

In his most recent fight, he defended his title against David Light, and his next fight is scheduled against Chris Billam-Smith for a May 27th matchup.

 

 

 

1. Jai Opetaia

Title(s):

• IBF Cruiserweight World Champion

• The Ring Cruiserweight World Champion

Jai Opetaia is an Australian Professional boxer, with an undefeated record of 22 wins and 0 losses. 

As of last weekend, Jai Opetaia is the current unified IBF and The Ring cruiserweight world champion. He has also held multiple regional titles including the WBA Oceania and WBO Global cruiserweight titles

He won the IBF and The Ring cruiserweight titles after defeating Mairis Briedis last weekend. Opetaia took the lead on the scorecards in the early rounds and though Briedis had a comeback in the later rounds, Jai Opetaia won the fight via a unanimous decision.

 

 

How would you rank these Contenders and Champions? Rank below to be added in the Power Rankings

 

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