Before 2020, there had been only four male undisputed champions in boxing’s four-belt era. Since 2020, there have been 10* more. And in one week, barring a draw, that number will increase to 11* since 2020 and 15* overall. (Details on those asterisks will come further below.)
What once was a rarity is now a commonality. That does not mean the accomplishment has been watered down. Instead, it is welcome news, a sign that sometimes things can actually go right in our tumultuous sport. The best are occasionally fighting the best (though still not often enough).
The two best light heavyweights in the world, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, will headline a card on Saturday, October 12 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The winner will be the second man to be named undisputed champion in 2024, following Oleksandr Usyk’s heavyweight championship win over Tyson Fury in May.
Most undisputed reigns are brief, not because of competition but because of compliance.
Four world titles means as many as four mandatory challengers. Some of those mandatory challengers don’t have big names, which is an even greater deterrent when the champions have more lucrative options. Canelo Alvarez parted ways with his IBF title rather than take on mandatory challenger William Scull, opting instead for the better-known if still lightly regarded Edgar Berlanga, Canelo’s WBA mandatory challenger.
And sometimes the mere challenge of getting the two top fighters to share the same ring requires a contractual rematch clause. That is why Usyk’s time as undisputed heavyweight champ lasted little more than a month. He is obligated to face Fury again — they will meet December 21 — and lost his own IBF title because he could not defend against his mandatory challenger, Daniel Dubois.
That leaves one current undisputed champion in men’s boxing until October 12.
Naoya Inoue won all four titles last year. He’s since made one mandatory defense, against Luis Nery (WBC) in May, and one voluntary defense against TJ Doheny last month. Two mandatory challengers await: Sam Goodman (IBF and WBO) and Murodjon Akhmadaliev (WBA).
There are differing opinions about when the four-belt era began — that is, when the WBO was officially considered a major world title alongside the three other sanctioning bodies. Regardless, here are the fighters who have managed to attain a coveted undisputed reign in that loosely defined period.
1. Bernard Hopkins, September 2004: Some consider Bernard Hopkins to be the first undisputed champion of the four-belt era, dating back to when the IBF, WBA and WBC 160-pound titleholder took out Oscar De La Hoya with a famous body shot to add the WBO belt.
2. Jermain Taylor, July 2005: Jermain Taylor became the next undisputed middleweight champion by virtue of his disputed decision over Hopkins in 2005. Hopkins had a rematch clause, so Taylor relinquished his IBF belt three months later rather than face top-ranked challenger Arthur Abraham.
Others feel the four-belt era didn’t begin until around 2007. Either way, it would be quite some time, about a decade, until the next four-belt champion.
3. Terence Crawford, August 2017: Crawford arrived in the junior welterweight division in 2015 with a win over Thomas Dulorme to capture the vacant WBO title, added the WBC belt in 2016 with a decision over Viktor Postol, and finished his run with a knockout of IBF and WBA titleholder Julius Indongo in 2017. Crawford then moved up to welterweight, vacating his 140-pound titles.
4. Oleksandr Usyk, July 2018: Usyk won the undisputed cruiserweight championship, going on the road to take on the best that the 200-pound-capped division had to offer. He beat Krzysztof Glowacki in Poland for the WBO title in 2016, edged Mairis Briedis in Latvia for the WBC belt in 2017, and widely outpointed Murat Gassiev in Russia for the IBF and WBA titles in 2018 in the finale of a World Boxing Super Series tournament. After one defense, a vicious knockout of Tony Bellew, Usyk departed for heavyweight.
*5. Teofimo Lopez, October 2020: Depending on how you view the oft-confusing maneuverings of the sanctioning bodies, a champion’s undisputed status can, in fact, be disputed. Some feel Teofimo Lopez was an undisputed champ. Others disagree. Because boxing.
Entering October 2019, Vasiliy Lomachenko held the WBA, WBC and WBO lightweight world titles. That month, the WBC named Lomachenko its “franchise champion.” For some, it is reasonable to look at that designation as being akin to a “champion-in-recess” or a “champion emeritus,” where a fighter is no longer the primary titleholder.
Not to give too much credence to what the WBC says or doesn’t say (because the WBC), but the organization describes the franchise championship as someone who “enjoys special status with respect to his or her mandatory obligations, holding multiple titles and competing for titles of other organizations, as the WBC Board of Governors considers petitions from elite boxers to receive the Franchise Boxer designation on a case-by-case basis.”
It’s therefore also rational that some think of the WBC’s “franchise champion” as akin to the WBA having a “super” titleholder.
If you follow that logic, then Lopez became undisputed in October 2020 when the IBF titleholder won a decision over Lomachenko. Per the WBC, Lopez had requested to be named the franchise champion if he beat Lomachenko.
6. Josh Taylor, May 2021: Terence Crawford’s departure from the junior welterweight division left his four titles vacant and opened up opportunities for the next generation of 140-pounders. Josh Taylor picked up two titles during a World Boxing Super Series tournament, topping Ivan Baranchyk (IBF) and Regis Prograis (WBA), both in 2019. Then, in May 2021, Taylor met up with Jose Ramirez and won a competitive unanimous decision for the WBC and WBO belts.
7. Canelo Alvarez, November 2021: Canelo ran through the super middleweight division’s three titleholders in 2020 and 2021, beating up Callum Smith for the WBA and vacant WBC titles, and stopping Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant, respectively, for the WBO and IBF belts.
*8. George Kambosos Jr., November 2021: If you subscribe to the belief that Lopez was undisputed, then Kambosos would also have been the undisputed lightweight champion for his November 2021 upset of “The Takeover.”
9. Jermell Charlo, May 2022: Junior middleweight was an unofficial round-robin in which several titleholders and contenders faced each other over the years. Jermell Charlo came out on top. He stopped Tony Harrison in their 2019 rematch to regain the WBC title, knocked out Jeison Rosario in 2020 for the IBF and WBA belts, and stopped Brian Castano in their 2022 rematch for the WBO title. Charlo never made another defense and began to be stripped of his titles in 2023.
10. Devin Haney, June 2022: No matter your stance on whether Lopez and Kambosos should be considered undisputed, this mess was thankfully cleaned up in June 2022 when Devin Haney beat Kambosos. Haney had been the WBC’s interim titleholder in 2019 and was upgraded when Lomachenko became the franchise champ. Defeating Kambosos earned Haney the IBF, WBA and WBO belts as well. After one defense against Lomachenko, Haney parted with his titles and moved up to junior welterweight.
11. Naoya Inoue, December 2022: Inoue’s obliteration of the bantamweight division included a second-round knockout of Emmanuel Rodriguez for the IBF title in May 2019, a decision over Nonito Donaire for the WBA belt in the 2019 Fight of the Year, a much more one-sided rematch win over Donaire in June 2022 for the WBC title, and a rout of Paul Butler six months later for the WBO belt. Inoue then moved up to the 122-pound weight class.
12. Terence Crawford, July 2023: After Crawford left the 140-pound weight class, he arrived at 147 in June 2018 with a technical knockout of Jeff Horn to take the WBO title. That was the only belt he held for another five years, thanks in large part to promotional and network affiliations. While Crawford was with Top Rank and featured on ESPN, the other belts belonged to fighters signed with Premier Boxing Champions and featured on Showtime, including Manny Pacquiao, Shawn Porter, Errol Spence, Keith Thurman and Yordenis Ugas. When Crawford became a free agent again, that opened the doors for a long-awaited clash with Spence, who by then owned the IBF, WBA and WBC titles. Crawford demolished Spence to become the undisputed champion — in his second weight class. He was stripped of the IBF title a few months later. Crawford had been mandated to face Jaron Ennis, but he has since parted with all of his belts, and the welterweight division as a whole.
13. Naoya Inoue, December 2023: Inoue stood atop junior featherweight after two fights, stopping Stephen Fulton for two world titles in July 2023 and Marlon Tapales for the other two belts last December. He, like Crawford, is undisputed in two weight classes.
14. Oleksandr Usyk, May 2024: Usyk arrived at heavyweight in 2019 following his remarkable cruiserweight run. By 2021, Usyk was in the ring with Anthony Joshua, and he took a unanimous decision for the IBF, WBA and WBO titles. Earlier this year, Usyk won a split decision over Tyson Fury to pick up the WBC belt. As noted at the start of this article, Usyk was stripped of the IBF title because he is obligated for a Fury rematch and could not meet Daniel Dubois first. Along with his legendary peers in the previous two slots on this list, Usyk has lifted all the belts in a pair of weight classes.
15. ???????, October 2024
Beterbiev vs. Bivol has been the key fight at light heavyweight for years.
Bivol won the WBA’s interim title back in May 2016 and then was elevated in fall 2017 with Andre Ward retiring and Badou Jack vacating his secondary “regular” title. Bivol’s best year was in 2022, when he earned Fighter of the Year thanks to victories over Canelo Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez.
Beterbiev earned the IBF belt in November 2017, added the WBC (and lineal) title with his 2019 win over Oleksandr Gvozdyk, and unified with the WBO belt when he blasted through Joe Smith Jr. in 2022.
As was long the case with Crawford and Spence, Bivol and Beterbiev have different promotional and network affiliations. Bivol works with promoters Matchroom Boxing and Vadim Kornilov and has been featured regularly on DAZN ever since HBO stopped broadcasting the sport. Beterbiev signed with Top Rank in 2019 and is a mainstay of ESPN and ESPN+. Indeed, that latter relationship is why Beterbiev vs. Bivol will be on ESPN+ on October 12 while the rest of the Riyadh Season undercard will air on DAZN.
This fight, as with Usyk vs. Fury, is being made in large part thanks to the significant sums of money Riyadh Season is paying.
Beterbiev vs. Bivol may be the final fight for a while that installs a new undisputed champion. And we’ll see how long the winner of this fight, as well as Naoya Inoue, can hold on to their undisputed status.
Even without an undisputed champion, we’ll know who the best in their divisions are. Usyk and Canelo are still the kings of their weight classes even though they are now one belt down.
The good news is that more fighters are clearly aiming for undisputed, rather than finding reasons to stay away from their fellow titleholders.
Women’s boxing has also added a number of undisputed champions in recent years.
1. September 2014: Cecilia Braekhus, welterweight
2. April 2019: Claressa Shields, middleweight
3. June 2019: Katie Taylor, lightweight
4. August 2020: Jessica McCaskill, welterweight
5. March 2021: Claressa Shields, junior middleweight
6. April 2022: Franchon Crews Dezurn, super middleweight
7. October 2022: Claressa Shields, middleweight (again)
8. November 2022: Chantelle Cameron, junior welterweight
9. February 2023: Alycia Baumgardner, junior lightweight
10. February 2023: Amanda Serrano, featherweight
11. July 2023: Savannah Marshall, super middleweight
12. November 2023: Katie Taylor, junior welterweight
13. February 2024: Seniesa Estrada, minimumweight
And there’s one more soon to come. Gabriela Fundora and Gabriela Celeste Alaniz will fight for the undisputed flyweight championship on November 2.
Men’s boxing has named 10* undisputed champions since 2020. Women’s boxing has named 12 undisputed champions since 2019. We’re about to have two undisputed championship fights in the next three weeks.
It’s fitting that the next one will take place in Kingdom Arena, ending with a new ruler ascending the throne.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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