Error code: %{errorCode}
Where does Oleksandr Usyk rank among boxing's undisputed champions?
This Saturday we will see an undisputed champion crowned at heavyweight, with Oleksandr Usyk looking to completely reunify the division against Daniel Dubois live on DAZN PPV.
WBC, WBA, and WBO champion Usyk has previously reigned as undisputed at heavyweight, having also previously held all four belts at cruiserweight.
Currently there are two active undisputed champions – while nine of the 11 men who have claimed all four belts in a division are still fighting.
Hailed as one of the best boxers in the world, where does Oleksandr Usyk stack up compared to the other undisputed champions in the four-belt era?
- Read next | Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois 2: Date, undercard, ringwalk times, TV channel, prediction, analysis, odds
11. Josh Taylor
Still the only Brit to reign as undisputed in the four-belt era, Josh Taylor’s glory era feels a lifetime ago.
The Scot benefited greatly from the 2019 World Boxing Super Series, picking up the IBF super-lightweight belt off Ivan Baranchyk in the semi-final before adding the WBA title to his collection by defeating Regis Prograis in the final.
Thanks to a mixture of matchmaking and COVID, Taylor had to wait two years before being able to add the remaining two belts at 140lbs, beating WBO and WBC champ José Ramírez via unanimous decision in 2021.
Taylor took just 18 fights to reach undisputed status, but after experiencing that high, the ‘Tartan Tornado’ has tasted low after low in the ring.
Mikey Williams/Top Rank via Getty Images
His first defence against Jack Catterall ended in controversy – many felt that Taylor’s split decision win was a mistake on the judges’ behalf, and that victory remains his most recent triumph.
Inactivity cost him the WBC, IBF, and WBA titles, before defeat to Teofimo Lopez saw the remaining WBO belt also slip out of his grasp.
A rematch against Catterall ended in another loss in 2024, before his debut at welterweight in front of a home crowd in May ended in a shock loss to away fighter Ekow Essuman.
10. Jermell Charlo
Jermell Charlo is another fighter to claim all four belts in a division before seeing things go quickly south.
Charlo had previously earned the WBC super-welterweight strap in 2017 before losing it to Tony Harrison the following year. His defeat by Harrison was a massive upset, but Charlo would rectify that result and regain his title in a 2019 rematch.
That allowed the American to quickly build up steam, with his following bout against Jeison Rosario putting the WBA and IBF belts on the line.
An eighth-round knockout left just one belt out of Charlo’s grasp. It would take two bites at the cherry for Charlo to pry the WBO belt from Brian Castaño’s hands.
Sarah Stier/Getty Images
Their first meeting ended in a split decision draw, but Charlo made sure there was no need to go to the judges’ scorecards in the rematch, knocking his opponent out in the eighth round to become undisputed champion at 154lbs.
While he did not lose his titles in defeat to another super-welterweight, Charlo did relinquish his undisputed status inside of the ring.
That is because the WBO decided to allow Charlo to retain his status as their champion for the ring announcements for his undisputed vs undisputed clash against super-middleweight king Canelo Alvarez, only for that title to be instantly stripped as soon as the first bell rang.
Charlo would go on to lose to Canelo, his second professional loss. He has not fought since, with all four of his belts slowly taken off him by the sanctioning bodies.
As such, Charlo never defended his undisputed status inside the ring, with his reign lasting just over a year.
9. Devin Haney
Still undefeated, Devin Haney’s stature in boxing could continue to grow in the coming years. The American became the first man to unite the lightweight division in the four-belt era by defeating George Kambosos Jr in 2022.
Many had been expecting a fight between Haney and fellow compatriot Teofimo Lopez to be a deciding bout for undisputed status at 135lbs, but the latter’s shock loss to Kambosos Jr teed up an entirely different fight.
WBC champion Haney cruised past Kambosos Jr with a unanimous decision victory in June 2022, adding the WBO, WBA, and IBF straps to his collection. The pair ran it back in October of the same year, producing the same result.
GettyImages
If Haney had been handed the opportunity to become undisputed on a platter, then his first mandatory defence was a proper test of his credentials.
He took on three-division champion Vasyl Lomachenko, picking up a unanimous decision win, although many fans and pundits thought the Ukrainian challenger had won the fight.
That would be his last bout at lightweight before he moved up to become WBC super-lightweight champion with victory over Regis Prograis in 2023.
Since becoming a world champion, Haney has lacked knockout power, a trend amplified by his cautious approach against José Ramírez last time out.
Haney’s subdued performance was attributed to his knockout loss to Ryan Garcia that was subsequently overturned to a no contest after Garcia was banned for a failed PED test.
If Haney wants to become a three-weight world champion against WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr later this year, he will have to shrug off fears of being stopped.
8. Jermain Taylor
Fans of Jermain Taylor will point to the fact that their man twice defeated another fighter higher up this list, but in all truth, the American was not on the same level as Bernard Hopkins when both men were at their best.
Taylor’s first-ever world title fight was for undisputed status, and few predicted him defeating reigning middleweight champion Hopkins when they met in 2005.
A split decision win saw Taylor become the man to beat in the division overnight, a position only strengthened when he defeated Hopkins for a second time five months later, this time via unanimous decision.
Boxing organisation politics and a reluctance to pay sanctioning fees for all the belts saw Taylor lose his undisputed status ahead of his draw with Winky Wright.
In 2009 he stepped up to face Carl Froch for the WBC super middleweight title but was unsuccessful, before later that year his career would be turned upside down by a knockout sustained by Arthur Abraham.
He would suffer severe concussion and short-term memory loss. Somehow, he would return to the sport, regaining his IBF middleweight title against Sam Soliman in his final fight in 2014.
7. Bernard Hopkins
Bernard Hopkins holds the distinction of serving as an undisputed champion in both the three-belt and four-belt era – with the duration of his reign spanning both.
His journey to undisputed status took some time, however. He first challenged for a world title in 1993, where he lost to Roy Jones Jr for the vacant IBF middleweight championship.
Two years later he would win that very same belt over Segundo Mercado, making 11 successful defences until he could finally unify with the WBC strap in 2000.
(Getty Images)
He would add the WBA title by defeating Félix Trinidad in 2001, but again was left to wait to fully unify the division.
Future six-division world champion Oscar De La Hoya stood in his way, but a ninth-round stoppage for Hopkins saw the American add the WBO belt to his collection.
Unafraid to share the ring with big names, Hopkins would go on to pick up titles at light-heavyweight. His long reign as a champion at middleweight places him higher than old foe Jermain Taylor.
6. Artur Beterbiev
Artur Beterbiev is another half of an undisputed duo on this list, with the light-heavyweight finding his perfect dance partner in Dmitry Bivol.
Both a light-heavyweight and a knockout artist throughout his career, Beterbiev slowly conquered the 175lbs division. He did the heavy lifting in uniting the four belts, taking the WBC, WBO, and IBF straps into his unification belt with Bivol at the end of 2024.
He would complete his goal in an enthralling encounter, edging his rival by majority decision to declare himself undisputed champion.
The pair immediately ran it back in February of this year, with Bivol reversing the result completely to snatch all four belts away. At one win apiece, a trilogy fight has been promised – and based on the skill shown by both fighters, it is hugely anticipated.
5. Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez
Saúl Álvarez, at this point better known by his nickname Canelo, is seen as the face of boxing.
His ability to command an audience, both in stadiums and via pay-per-views at home, has made him a prize draw, but it is easy to forget that the current undisputed super-middleweight champion of the world is a special fighter.
A four-division world champion, Canelo has shared the ring with such greats as Floyd Mayweather, fellow undisputed champion Dmitry Bivol, and Gennady Golovkin.
Leigh Dawney/Queensberry
Thanks to the machinations of mandatory defences, Canelo is now a two-time undisputed champion, having regained the IBF belt he relinquished by beating William Scull in May.
He could have been a two-division four-belt holder, having collected the WBC, IBF, and WBA straps at middleweight. Ironically, while holding those belts he would gain the missing WBO title – at light-heavyweight.
Later this year he faces fellow two-time undisputed champion Terence Crawford, who is jumping up two divisions to face Canelo at super-middleweight.
If Canelo is victorious over the undefeated Crawford, the argument could be made for the Mexican to rise up this list.
4. Dmitry Bivol
Dmitry Bivol has been victorious over the last two entries on this list, partly explaining why he is above both. In truth, it is difficult to separate Bivol from Artur Beterbiev, the pair showing the world how close in quality they were across their two matchups.
A major argument in Bivol’s favour is the fact that he is the only fighter to defeat two reigning undisputed champions, beating both Beterbiev and Canelo Álvarez, albeit fighting the former at light-heavyweight rather than super-middleweight.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Having lost his WBC title after choosing to face Beterbiev for a third time rather than take on mandatory David Benavidez, Bivol is not currently undisputed.
However, at 34, there remains the chance that Bivol will complete his dance with Beterbiev before reunifying the 175lbs division once again.
3. Terence Crawford
The top three on this list share the same distinction – the trio all having reigned as undisputed at two separate weight classes, and as such, it is hard to separate them.
Terence Crawford was the first to reach that distinction, beating Errol Spence Jr in 2023 to secure all four belts at welterweight.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Crawford could also become the first to have simultaneously held all four belts in a division at three separate weights if he defeats Canelo Álvarez in September.
On top of his undisputed status at super-lightweight and welterweight, Crawford has world titles at lightweight and super welterweight, demonstrating his ability to move up the weight classes.
With a CV of 41 wins from 41 fights, Crawford has the longest perfect record out of any fighters on this list.
- Read next | Anthony Joshua, Frank Bruno and Carl Froch: The fighters to light up Wembley ahead of Usyk-Dubois 2
2. Naoya Inoue
Another four-division champion, ‘The Monster’ Naoya Inoue has made noises of adding more belts at higher weights.
Thirty wins into his professional career, Inoue has 27 knockouts – and 11 world titles to his name.
PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images
A world champion in just his sixth fight, earning the WBC super light flyweight strap in 2014, he had a belt in another weight class by the end of the same year.
Another to benefit from the World Boxing Series in 2019, Inoue earned the IBF and WBA bantamweight titles from the tournament. He’d have to wait until 2022 to complete the set at 118lbs, defeating Paul Butler to become champion of all four major sanctioning bodies.
He instantly moved up to super-bantamweight, the division he still rules today. In just his second fight in the weight class he had combined all four belts together.
1. Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Usyk has recently labelled Terence Crawford as a better fighter than he is, but when it comes to undisputed achievements, it is hard to look past the Ukrainian.
We have placed Usyk at the top largely based on the difficulty in stepping up from cruiserweight to heavyweight.
While the difference between the two weight classes is theoretically a tenth of a pound, Usyk has piled on over 20 pounds to compete in boxing’s most glamorous division.
Richard Pelham/Getty Images
On top of that his record looks far more impressive compared to Inoue and Crawford. Defeating much larger heavyweights in Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury twice apiece is no mean feat, with his domination of bigger men coming so easily for the Ukrainian.
Usyk’s achievement in becoming the first person to hold all four belts at cruiserweight and then repeat the trick at heavyweight will take some beating.
Having lost his IBF title due to prioritising a rematch with Fury, many expect Usyk to restore his undisputed status this weekend. If he manages to combine all belts for a second time, his legacy will only be strengthened.
Usyk vs Dubois 2 only on DAZN
Watch Usyk versus Dubois 2 live and exclusive on DAZN PPV this Saturday - July 19 - for £24.99 UK; $59.99 US; $19.99/equivalent ROW. Buy the PPV now here .
