The First Queensbury Rules World Title Fights in Each Country

ALGERIA – MAURICE HOLTZER v PHIL DOLHEM (05/10/1937)

Dolhem boxed a total of 95 rounds during 1937 alone, all nine of his fights going the distance.  Unfortunately for him he came off worse in five of them including this 15-rounder with Frenchmen Holtzer for the world featherweight title.

 

ARGENTINA – PASCUAL PEREZ v DANNY KID (22/10/1955)

Despite not actually being billed as a world title fight when both Perez and Kid weighed-in within the flyweight limit (107lb and 111 ¾ lb respectively) it was decided that the title which Perez had won the year before in Japan would be at stake.  Perez retained his belt with a points win over 10 rounds.

 

 

ARUBA – DANIEL ZARAGOZA v FREDDIE JACKSON (04/05/1985)

Zaragoza was behind on two of the three scorecards in this contest for the vacant WBC bantamweight belt when Jackson got himself disqualified thanks to an intentional head-butt in the seventh session.

 

 

AUSTRALIA – YOUNG GRIFFO v TORPEDO BILLY MURPHY (02/09/1890

The princely sum of 200 sovereigns was at stake in this fight to the finish held at Sydney Amateur Gymnastic Club aswell as Griffo’s world featherweight title strap.  The furious dust up came to an end after 15 rounds when an exhausted Torpedo decided he couldn’t take any more, but that didn’t stop him challenging Griffo to a bare knuckle fight for a purse of £100 immediately after.

 

AUSTRIA – GUSTAVE ROTH v HEINZ LAZEK (01/09/1936)

Light-heavyweight Roth claimed the vacant world title on points in Vienna against Austrian Lazek.

 

BAHAMAS – ELISHA OBED v TONY GARDNER (28/02/1976)

The week after his 24^th birthday, Obed turned the tables on knockout specialist Gardner by finishing him off inside two rounds of his first world light-middleweight title defence.

 

 

BELGIUM – GUSTAVE ROTH V MERLO PRECISO (24/03/1937)

The year after Roth won the vacant light-heavyweight title against Lazek he defended it for the third time, again on points after 15 rounds.

 

 

BOPHUTHATSWANA – MIKE WEAVER v GERRIE COETZEE (25/10/1980)

One of the most obscure countries on the list, Bophuthatswana was an independent country for only a short time in what is now South Africa.  Coetzee gave the much bigger Weaver a good fight in the early rounds before being counted out by the referee during the 13^th stanza.

 

BRAZIL – EDER JOFRE v PIERO ROLLO (25/03/1961)

The Golden Bantam as he was known stopped the very game Rollo after nine rounds, a constant volley of punches in what was to be the last round left the Italian bloodied and unable to continue.

 

CANADA – RUBE FEARNS v MATTY MATTHEWS (24/05/1901)

After splitting a pair of decisions between them in the US in 1900, Matthews winning the world welterweight championship at his second attempt, a 20 round rubber match was organised north of the border in Toronto the following year.  Despite Matthews taking a healthy lead into the tenth round two solid lefts to the jaw by Fearns put him on his back.  He regained his composure but a right cross ended matters shortly after.

 

CHILE – MIGUEL CANTO v MARTIN VARGAS (30/11/1977)

Canto went 15 rounds to defend his title more than any other boxer in history, twice against Vargas, first in Canto’s native Mexico before this return bout in Chile, the homeland of Vargas later in the year.  Both went unanimously to Canto on points.

CHINA – LEEONZER BARBER v MIKE SEDILLO (27/02/1993)

Barber defended his WBO light heavyweight title for the second time on points in Beijing.

 

COLOMBIA – EDER JOFRE v BERNARDO CARABELLO (27/11/1964)

At this point in time no other boxer could hold a candle to Jofre.  Undefeated after 50 professional fights including 37 knockouts, he truly was the P4P king of his day.  However the highly ranked Carabello was himself undefeated at this point and Jofre had not fought for 28 months.  Nevertheless, ring rust didn’t prove to be much of a problem as Jofre chalked up his 17^th consecutive knockout.

 

 

COSTA RICA – RICARDO ARREDONDO v JOSE ISAAC MARIN (29/01/1972)

Three months after winning the WBC super featherweight title from Yoshiaki Numata, Arredondo retained his title on points against Marin.  He wasn’t able to hang on to his form and lost 17 of his last 27 fights.

 

CUBA – JESS WILLARD v JACK JOHNSON (05/04/1915)

Well ahead on merit after the first 20 rounds, it was a combination of age, inactivity and the blistering Havana heat that saw The Galveston Giant wilt in a matter of minutes before being KO’d by a Willard in the peak of physical condition.  Years later Johnson tried to make out that he took a dive for a payment of $50,000 but few people believed him then or now.

 

CURAÇAO – KHAOSAI GALAXY v ISRAEL CONTRERAS (01/11/1986)

Galaxy was in fine form when he produced his seventh KO in a row, fourth as world super flyweight champion, when he added Contreras to his growing list of scalps in the fifth.

 

DENMARK – CARLOS MONZON v TOM BOGS (19/08/1972)

The natural light heavyweight Bogs dropped down to middleweight in an attempt to take the 160lb crown from Monzon but was unable to contend with his power and was knocked down three times in the fifth and what proved to be final round of a scheduled 15.

 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – CARLOS CRUZ v CARLOS ORTIZ (29/06/1968)

Two time lightweight champion Ortiz had been out of the ring for the best part of a year before dropping this split decision over 15 rounds.

 

DUTCH WEST INDIES – DANIEL ZARAGOZA v FREDDIE JACKSON (04/05/1985)

Zaragoza retained his WBC bantamweight title in Aruba after Jackson was disqualified for an intentional head butt in the seventh round.

 

ECUADOR – SAM SERRANO v ALBERTO HERRARA (15/01/1977)

Serrano recovered from an early scare of being knocked down in the first round to stop the relatively inexperienced Ecuadorian inside of 11 rounds.

 

ENGLAND – GEORGE DIXON v NUNC WALLACE (27/06/1890)

Back in the early days of Queensbury rules boxing it was not uncommon for England, America and Australia all to appoint their own ‘world’ champions.  When the stateside champion Canadian Dixon travelled to England he was aiming to become undisputed featherweight champion.  He got his wish at The Pelican Club, Soho after 19 brutal rounds when a battered and bloodied Wallace uttered, “Stop. I’ll give in.”  Dixon was the first black world boxing champion and the following year became the boxing two weight world champion in boxing history.

 

FINLAND – DAVEY MOORE v OLLI MAKI (17/08/1962)

A little over six months before his death in the ring against Sugar Ramos, Moore travelled to Helsinki to defend his featherweight crown.  After Maki was knocked down for the third time in two rounds the referee had seen enough and waved off the contest.

 

FRANCE – TOMMY BURNS v JEWEY SMITH (18/04/1908)

In a mismatch that would not even be allowed in today’s fight game, Englishman Smith having just seven professional ROUNDS under his belt at the start of the fight, Burns notched up his fifth consecutive KO defence of his heavyweight belt in 5 rounds.

 

GERMANY – GUSTAVE ROTH v ADOLPH WITT (29/10/1936)

Roth clearly wasn’t fazed by taking his campaign on the road, he makes his third appearance on the list here.  Again he went the whole 15 rounds against Witt.  (If you were thinking Max Schmeling may have been missed out here I should point out that he won his title in New York, defended it in Cleveland and lost it back in New York.)

 

GHANA – SUGAR RAMOS v FLOYD ROBERTSON (09/05/1964)

In the mid-60’s Robertson twice challenged for the world featherweight title, in 1966 against Vincente Saldivar and two years previously in this hard fought and close split decision which he just happened to be on the wrong end of.

 

GUADALOPE – GILBERT DELE v CARLOS ELLIOTT (23/02/1991)

Dele was undefeated at the point where he met Elliott for the vacant light middleweight belt and had been in the ring just one month prior to this seventh round win.

 

HAWAII – MANUEL ORTIZ v DAVID KUI KONG YOUNG (30/05/1947)

Hawaii being its own nation prior to its admission to the United States, Honolulu Stadium saw local bantamweight Young challenge Ortiz for his world strap only to lose out via split decision.

 

HOLLAND – ZACK PADILLA v HAROLD MILLER (18/04/1994

Padilla’s penultimate fight before retiring as WBO light welterweight champion was this convincing seventh round stoppage.

 

HUNGARY – SIMON BROWN v JORGE MAYSONET (18/02/1989)

Maysonet was clearly outclassed in this encounter, being floored once in the second and twice in the third before the referee stepped in later in the round while he was on the ropes.

 

INDONESIA – SAOUL MAMBY v THOMAS AMERICO (29/08/1981)

Mamby’s fourth defence of his 140lb crown saw him travel to Jakarta where he was taken the distance by Americo who was taking part in just his third fight as a professional boxer.

 

ISRAEL - WELCOME NCITA V FABRICE BENICHOU (10/03/1990)

Fighting someone with possibly the least appropriate name for a boxer I’ve ever heard Benichou probably didn’t feel very welcome in Tel Aviv when after 12 rounds he saw a close but unanimous decision fall in favour of the IBF super bantamweight champion Ncita.

 

IVORY COAST – ELISHA OBED v SEA ROBINSON (25/04/1976)

The quick-fisted Robinson gave a good account of himself in front of 35,000 people in his native Ivory Coast against light-middleweight king Obed only to lose on points.

 

ITALY – PANAMA AL BROWN v DOM BERNASCONI (18/03/1933)

It’s perhaps not surprising that bantamweight legend Brown went 12 rounds to defend his crown in Milan against Bernasconi – neither man was ever knocked out in any of their combined 235 professional fights.

 

JAMAICA – EDDIE PERKINS v BUNNY GRANT (19/04/1964)

The great Willie Pep officiated this bout as referee which saw light welterweight champion Perkins win a unanimous decision over Jamaican Grant.

 

JAPAN – YOSHIO SHIRAI v DADO MARINO (19/05/1952)

In the third installment of four bouts between these two flyweights, Shirai had home advantage and in front of 40,000 of his countrymen defended his title over 15 rounds.

 

KAZAKSTAN – JULIO CESAR VASQUEZ v JUAN RAMON MEDINA (22/01/1994)

One scorecard which read 119-102 after the final bell should tell you all you need to know about this 154lb title bout.

 

KUWAIT – SOT CHITALADA v FREDDIE CASTILLO (22/02/1986)

Chitalada had become WBC flyweight king in just his ninth professional fight and clearly was in no mood to show former champ Castillo any respect when he won on points in what was to prove the last fight of Castillo’s career.

 

MALAYSIA – MUHAMMAD ALI v JOE BUGNER (01/07/1975)

Three years after their first meeting Ali and Bugner met again, this time in Kuala Lumpur and this time the world heavyweight title was at stake.  The result sadly for Joe was the same, a loss on points, albeit over 15 rounds instead of 12.

 

MEXICO – IKE WILLIAMS v JUAN ZURITA (18/04/1945)

Lightweight legend Williams won the first of his world titles in style when the power and volume of his punches were too much for the champ; Zurita was left in a heap in the Mexico City Bullring inside just two stanzas.

 

MONACO – CARLOS MONZON v NINO BENVENUTI (08/05/1971)

In their second fight Benvenuti’s manager throw the towel in during the third round to his man who had already gone down to twice to the South Americans huge punches.

 

MOROCCO – KHALID RAHILOU v MARTY JAKUBOWSKI (05/07/1997)

The sweet science came to Casablanca for the first defence of Rahilou’s light welterweight contest which was stopped in the seventh due to the three knockdown rule being in force.

 

NICARAGUA – ALEXIS ARGUELLO v RIGOBERTO RIASCO (31/05/1975)

Fighting in his homeland for the first time since winning the world featherweight strap from Ruben Olivares in 1974, The Explosive Thin Man was in fine form and Riasco could make it to the end of the second stanza.

 

NIGERIA – DICK TIGER v GENE FULLMER (10/08/1963)

Hoping for it to be third time lucky having previously lost one and drawn one against Tiger, Fullmer’s manager had this middleweight title bout stopped after seven rounds.

 

NORWAY – ALFREDO ESCALERA v SVEIN-ERIK PAULSEN (12/12/1975)

The previously undefeated Norwegian Paulsen certainly deserved his tilt at Escalera’s super featherweight crown but by round nine the referee was forced to step in and halt proceedings.

 

NORTHERN IRELAND – RINTY MONAGHAN v JACKIE PATERSON (23/03/1948)

Five months after winning the vacant flyweight title Monaghan returned to his native Belfast to knock Patterson out inside of seven rounds.

 

PANAMA – ISMAEL LAGUNA v CARLOS ORTIZ (10/04/1965)

After an unbeaten streak stretching back four years Ortiz was pipped by majority decision after 15 rounds in this lightweight title bout.  He would go on to recapture the belt later in the year.

 

PAPUA NEW GUINEA – EUSEBIO PEDROZA v JOHNNY ABA (17/11/1979)

Crossing the path of Pedroza when he was arguably at the peak of his powers the very game Aba went 11 rounds before being stopped by the Panamanian whose 19 featherweight title defences is still a division record.

 

PHILIPPINES – PANCHO VILLA v CLEVER SENCIO (01/05/1925)

Often considered one of the greatest Asian boxers of all time it is easy to forget that the legendary Villa (or Francisco Villaruel Guilledo before he took on the name of the equally legendary Mexican revolutionary) was dead before he was 24.  His last successful title defence saw the flyweight champ travel back to his native Philippines.

 

POLAND – KRZYSZTOF WLODARCZYK v STEVE CUNNINGHAM (25/11/2006)

With Cunningham preferring to stay on the outside while Wlodarczyk doing his better work at closer range this was a tight contest to decide who deserved the vacant IBF cruiserweight strap.  In the end the Pole nicked it thanks to a split decision.

 

PORTUGAL – CHRIS EUBANK v RON ESSETT (27/06/1992)

1992 was a busy year for WBO super middleweight champ Eubank.  The third of his five bouts that year being this 12 round decision over American Essett in Quinta do Lago.

 

PUERTO RICO – SIXTO ESCOBAR v LOU SALICA (21/03/1937)

Jack Dempsey was in charge during this bantamweight title fight in San Juan.  Escobar went on to defend his belt via decision.  Such was his celebrity he is also the first boxer in history to have a stadium named after him!

 

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND – TOMMY BURNS v JEM ROCHE (17/03/1908)

Just 88 seconds after the first bell rang out in the Theatre Royal, Dublin to start this heavyweight title contest Roche was floored by Burns and that, as they say, was that!

 

ROMANIA – LEONARD DORIN v RAUL BALBI (31/05/2002)

Earlier in the year Romanian Dorin had beaten Balbi for the WBA lightweight title and in this rematch he repeated the feat on home turf.

 

RUSSIA – AL COLE v GLENN McCRORY (16/07/1993)

Cruiserweight champion Cole travelled to Moscow to defend his belt against Brit McCrory winning comfortably via unanimous decision.

 

SCOTLAND – JOHNNY HILL v ERNIE JARVIS (29/06/1929)

In his last fight before his untimely death three months later Scotsman Hill defended his flyweight title at Cartyne Greyhound Track in Glasgow, Jarvis being disqualified in the tenth session.

 

SINT MAARTEN – PERNELL WHITAKER v WILFREDO RIVERA (12/04/1996)

Whitaker’s sixth defence of his welterweight crown saw Puerto Rican Rivera take the champ all the way only to lose on a split decision.

 

SOUTH AFRICA – KID MCCOY v BILLY DOHERTY (26/12/1896)

Born Norman Selby in 1872, McCoy was a big hitter who pioneered the corkscrew punch.  He defended his middleweight (158lb) title in Johannesburg with a ninth round knockout on Boxing Day 1896.

 

SOUTH KOREA – KI-SOO KIM v NINO BENVENUTI (25/06/1966)

Ki-Soo Kim became the first world champion from South Korea when he took the light middleweight title off the man who had knocked him out of the Rome Olympics as an amateur six years earlier.

 

SPAIN – FRANKIE GENARO v VICTOR FERRAND (25/03/1931)

The first Olympic champion to win a professional world boxing strap, Genaro travelled to Barcelona to see off the challenge of Spaniard Ferrand.  While the local boy looked to have shaded a decision, the referee (who was also the sole judge) decided it was not enough of a majority to take the title and deemed the match a draw.

 

SWEDEN – JIMMY ELLIS v FLOYD PATTERSON (14/09/1968)

When Edwin Ahlquist the former manager of Ingemar Johansson turned promoter and brought the heavyweight title contest to his native Sweden it was such a big event that it was shown on television in colour, a rarity in those days.  The first defence for Ellis, the bout went all 15 rounds before referee Harold Valan awarded the win to the champion by nine rounds to six.

 

SWITZERLAND – MAURICE HOLTZER v MAURICE DUBOIS (19/02/1938)

Featherweight champion Holtzer was held to a draw by Dubois in Geneva.  The European based IBU stripped all its title holders later that year in a bid to see just one universally recognised champion per weight.

 

THAILAND – JIMMY CARRUTHERS v CHEMRERN SONGKITRAT (02/05/1954)

After a monsoon hit and both boxers ended up fighting in barefoot Curruthers retained his bantamweight title with a seven rounds to five victory before retiring, although he did attempt an ill-advised comeback in the 1960s.

 

TRINIDAD – DONNY LALONDE v EDDIE DAVIS (27/11//87)

Lalonde won the vacant light-heavyweight belt with a second round stoppage.  He defended it once before losing it to Sugar Ray Leonard who also retained his super-middleweight title making it the only bout in history where belts at two different weights were up for grabs.

 

TUNISIA – AL BROWN v YOUNG PEREZ (01/11/1934)

Perez refused to fight on in the tenth round of this bantamweight bout claiming he’d been followed by Brown.  The referee disagreed and counted him out.

 

UNITED STATES – JACK DEMPSEY v GEORGE FULLJAMES (30/07/1884)

In July 1884 a new era of the sport was ushered in when the original Jack Dempsey beat George Fulljames in the 22^nd round of their middleweight title bout, the first Queensbury world title bout ever.

 

URUGUAY – PASCUEL PEREZ v OSCAR SUAREZ (30/06/1956)

Champion Perez beat the count to get off the floor and defend his flyweight title in 11 rounds in Montevideo.

 

VENEZUELA – PASCUAL PEREZ v RAMON ARIAS (19/04/1958)

Undefeated flyweight champ Perez battled to a 15-round win against the first Venezuelan to challenge for a world boxing title.

 

YUGOSLAVIA  – NINO BENVENUTI v TOM BETHEA (23/05/1970)

In what is now Croatia, this was the first world title fight in any communist country.  Benvenuti defended his middleweight belts successfully for the final time, avenging a loss against Bethea four months prior to this encounter.

 

WALES – IKE WILLIAMS v RONNIE JAMES (04/09/1946)

Another surprising entry on the list here (I had to double check that Jimmy Wilde never fought in his homeland for a title) Williams knocked Welshman James six times before stopping him in nine in Ninian Park, Cardiff.

 

ZAIRE – MUHAMMAD ALI v GEORGE FOREMAN (30/10/1974)

Arguably the most famous boxing match in history, even people who have never watched boxing in their entire lives know of The Rumble in the Jungle.  In Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) Muhammad Ali took on the younger and stronger George Foreman in an attempt to reclaim the world heavyweight title he was stripped of for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War.  Employing the now famous rope-a-dope technique Ali leaned back on the ropes and covered up while Foreman punched himself out aswell as leaning on Foreman and holding his head down in clinches sapping his energy further.  Then in the eighth round, when Foreman had exhausted himself, Ali exploded off the ropes with a flurry of punches which floored Foreman for a ten count from referee Zach Clayton and Ali was now a two time world heavyweight champion.

First Champion by Country

Every since the late nineteenth century the Queensbury Rules have governed the sweet science.  Here's a list of each country's first world champion under those rules.

ALGERIA - MARCEL CERDAN (1948)

      Born in SidiBel-Abbes, Algeria where he first learnt to box Cerdan would eventually become a French national.  Cerdan beat the terrific body puncher Tony Zale via a 12^th round KO to take the world middleweight title in New Jersey in 1948.  He lost his crown to Jake LaMotta the following year and sadly would never have the chance to regain it.  He died in a plane crash whilst in training for the return bout en route to visit the French singer Edith Piaf.

 

ANTIGUA - MAURICE HOPE (1979)

      Maurice Hope grew up in London, England but was nonetheless born in Antigua and held the light middleweight title for 2 years from 1979 to 1981.

 

ARGENTINA - PASCAL PEREZ (1954)

      London 1948 flyweight gold medallist had battled to a non-title 10 round draw against Japan’s world champion Yoshio Shirai in his native Buenos Aires before travelling to Tokyo to beat Shirai after 15 rounds on points.

 

ARMENIA - VIC DARCHINYAN (2004)

      Aswell as being the first Armenian to win a world title, in 2005 he became the first flyweight in 40 years to combine two titles then in 2008 became the first ever undisputed super-flyweight champion.

 

AUSTRALIA - YOUNG GRIFFO (1890)

      Albert Giffiths (as he was to his parents) beat Torpedo Billy Murphy into submission to claim the world featherweight title in the 15^th round of their 1890 fight.  After defending it four times he became the first world champion to relinquish their title, not being able to make the weight to defend his crown.

 

AUSTRIA - JACK ROOT (1903)

      Jack Root was not only the first Czech born Austrian world champion but also the first light heavyweight title holder of any nationality when he beat George Gardener on July 4^th 1903.  Root would also go on to challenge Marvin Hart for the vacant heavyweight title following Jim Jeffries retirement in 1905.

 

BAHAMAS - ELISHA OBED (1975)

      The talented Obed held the light middleweight crown for seven months before relinquishing it to embark on a less than impressive middleweight career.

 

BARBADOS - JOE WALCOTT (1901)

      After an unsuccessful attempt at George ‘Kid’ Lavigne’s lightweight title and one more after moving up to welterweight, the ‘Original’ Joe Walcott (whom Jersey Joe took his name from) knocked James ‘Rube’ Ferns out in the 6^th round of their 1901 welterweight title bout.

 

BELARUS - SERGEY LYAKHOVICH (2006)

      The White Wolf claimed the WBO heavyweight strap off Lamon Brewster in 2006 before being knocked out by Shannon Briggs later that same year.

 

BELGIUM - GUSTAVE ROTH (1936)

      Light heavyweight Roth held the original IBU world title aswell as the European title for 2 years between 1936 and 1938, the durable Belgian getting knocked out just twice in 137 fights.

 

BELIZE - VERNO PHILLIPS (1993)

      Over a period of 15 years Phillips held the light middleweight title (in one form or another) on three separate occasions, latterly after a controversial split decision over Cory Spinks in 2008.

 

BRAZIL - EDER JOFRE (1960)

      Ranked in 2006 by the International Boxing Research Organisation as the greatest bantamweight of all time, Jofre lost just twice in his nineteen year career - an impressive feat by anyone’s standard.  The two weight champ’s first title was the vacant NBA bantamweight strap following the retirement of Jose Becerra in 1960.

 

CAMEROON – SAKIO BIKA (2013)

      A draw with Markus Beyer and a loss to Joe Calzaghe, both in 2006 and a loss to Andre Ward saw the tough Cameroon-born Australian based super middleweight walk away from his first three world title fights empty handed.  Then in June 2013 Bika claimed a close majority decision win over Marco Antonio Periban to claim the WBC 168lb belt.

 

CANADA - GEORGE DIXON (1890)

      In May 1889 George LaBlanche took on the ‘Nonpareil’ Jack Dempsey for the middleweight championship of the world. Had he not weighed in at 161lb or floored Dempsey with an illegal pivot blow he may very well have been the first Canadian world champion.

As it happens, the following year George Dixon won the world bantamweight championship knocking out Nunc Wallace and so not only becoming the first Canadian world champion but the first black world champion, which given the racial barriers of the time was an impressive achievement.

 

CHINA - XIONG ZHAO ZHONG (2012)

      Zhong was an experienced campaigner at flyweight and light flyweight including a shot at the WBC flyweight title in 2009 before dropping down to minimum weight to beat Mexican Javier Martinez Resendiz in 2012.eforestt

 

COLUMBIA - ANTONIO CERVANTES REYES (1972)

      Reyes moved from having just three amateur bouts (winning two and losing one) to becoming a Columbian national hero holding the world light welterweight title on two occasions between 1972 and 1980.

 

CUBA - KID CHOCOLATE (1931)

      After a hundred fight undefeated streak as an amateur, The Cuban Bon Bon turned professional in 1927 and notched up an impressive string of wins.  Had he been born a generation later he very well may not have been allowed to turn professional due to the communist regime.  As it happens, in 1931 The Kid knocked out the light welterweight title Benny Bass and to this day remains a legend.

 

CONGO - ANACLET WAMBA (1991)

      French born Wamba beat Massimiliano Duran for the 190lb WBC belt in 1991 but was stripped four years later.

 

DENMARK - BATTLING NELSON (1905)

      Born Oscar Mattheus Nielson in Copenhagen in 1882, The Durable Dane as he was known was one of the early greats in the lightweight division.  Nelson beat Jimmy Britt at his second attempt at the world strap in 1905 via an 18^th round knockout before losing to Joe Gans the following year in their famous 42 round epic.

 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - CARLOS TEO CRUZ (1968)

      Winning just seven of his first fourteen fights, Cruz didn’t exactly start his career with the form of a typical future world champion.  Nonetheless in 1968 in front of his home fans Cruz beat Carlos Ortiz on points.  He would lose it less than a year later.  He would die in a plane crash less than two years later.

 

EL SALVADOR - CARLOS HERNANDEZ (2003)

      Hernandez was ahead on all three scorecards against Steve Forbes in his 2003 IBF super featherweight bout when an accidental head butt gave him the title via technical decision.  He held it until Erik Morales beat him by unanimous decision the next year.

 

ENGLAND - BOB FITZSIMMONS (1891)

      Ruby Robert won the first of his three world title in 1891 when he beat Jack Dempsey for the middleweight title becoming the first English world champion of the gloved era.  He went on to take the heavyweight crown in 1897 before dropping to light heavyweight and becoming the first three weight world champion in 1901.

 

FRANCE - GEORGES CARPENTIER (1920)

      While Charles Ledoux was recognised as a division leader by the National Sporting Club in 1913, it wasn’t until The Orchid Man Georges Carpentier won the light heavyweight title from Battling Levinsky in 1920 that France had a universally accepted champion.

 

GERMANY - MAX SCHMELING (1930)

      German born Frank Mantell had an extremely good claim to be a world champion as early as 1907 but was never universally accepted.  In 1930 Max Schmeling claimed the heavyweight title left vacant following the retirement of Gene Tunney, becoming the first heavyweight champion to be crowned due to a foul after Jack Sharkey caught him with a low blow.

 

GHANA - DAVID KOTEY (1975)

      Kotey (or Kotei) beat the great featherweight Ruben Olivares by split decision in 1975 and held the title for a year before losing it to Danny Lopez.

 

GREECE - ANTON CHRISTOFORIDIS (1941)

      The solid, if not stylish, Greek beat Melio Bettina for the vacant world light heavyweight title in January 1941 and lost it five months later to Gus Lesnevich who would do a better job of keeping hold of it.

 

GUADALOUPE - GILBERT DELÉ(1991)

      Delé turned pro in 1986, and captured the Vacant WBA Light Middleweight Title in 1991 with a TKO over Carlos Elliott.  He defended the belt once before losing it to Vinny Pazienza later that year.

 

GUYANA - DENNIS ANDRIES (1986)

The Hackney Rock moved to London as a child to become a British citizen but was actually born in Georgetown, Guyana.  Andries won the WBC light heavyweight championship in 1986 against J.B. Williamson before defending it once then losing it to the then undefeated Tommy Hearns.

 

HAITI - JOACHIM ALCINE (2007)

      In 2007, Haitian-born Canadian Joachim Alcine overcame Travis Simms despite having a point taken away, to win the WBA 154lb strap.

 

HAWAII – DADO MARINO (1950)

Marino had already had two shots at a world title, one at flyweight against Rinty Monaghan and one up at bantamweight versus the legendary Manuel Ortiz before finding it was third time lucky back at flyweight when he beat London’s Terry Allen on a close 15 round points win.

 

HUNGARY - ISTVAN KOVACS (2001)

      The former amateur world champion and Olympic champion held the WBO featherweight title for the first half of 2001 before a shock loss to Julio Pablo Chacon.

 

INDONESIA - ELLYAS PICAL (1985)

      Pical held the IBF super flyweight title on three separate occasions between 1985 and 1989.

 

IRAN - NAHYAR MONSHIPOUR (2003)

      The Iranian-born French citizen, aptly nicknamed The Little Tyson, was super bantamweight champ for almost three years until 2006.

 

IRELAND -‘NONPAREIL’ JACK DEMPSEY (1884)

      The Irish-born Dempsey was the first ever champion to be crowned under the Queensbury code when he beat George Fulljames in 1884.

 

ISRAEL - YURI FOREMAN (2001)

      The Belarusian-born Israeli (who happens to be based in the United States, just to confuse matters) beat Daniel Santos for the WBA light middleweight title in 2009 but lost it when he was knocked out by Miguel Cotto in his first defence.

 

ITALY - FRANKIE CONLEY (1910)

      Born in Platania, Italy, in 1890 Conley emigrated to Wisconsin as a child. He would beat Monte Attell in the 42^nd round (of a scheduled 45) of their 1910 bantamweight title bout.

 

JAMAICA - MIKE MCCALLUM (1984)

      Three years after turning professional The Body Snatcher claimed the first of his three world title by beating Sean Mannion for the vacant WBA light middleweight title.

 

JAPAN - YOSHIO SHIRAI (1952)

      Shirai beat Dado Marino for the world flyweight strap in 1952, successfully defending it four times before losing it to Pascuel Perez in 1954.

 

KAZAKHSTAN - ANATOLY ALEXANDROV (1999)

      Alexandrov won the WBO super featherweight belt in January 1999 but lost it in the first round of his first defence, being knocked completely unconscious by AcelinoFreitas eight months later.

 

KOREA - KIM KI-SOO (1966)

      Kim caused a massive upset when he claimed a split decision for the world light middleweight title against Nino Benvenuti in 1966.

 

KYRGYZSTAN - ORZUBEK NAZAROV (1993)

      WBA lightweight champion for five years, Nazarov could have been champion for a lot longer had he not been affected by difficulties with his eyesight.  His only professional defeat was at the hands of Jean-Baptiste Mendy in 1998, after which he retired.

 

MARTINIQUE - DANIEL LONDAS (1992) 

      The Martinique-born Frenchman was WBO super featherweight champion for six months in 1992.

 

MONGOLIA - LAKVA SIM (1999)

      The two weight world champion held the WBA super featherweight and lightweight belts five years apart.

 

MEXICO - BATTLING SHAW (1933)

      The first of a great many Mexican world champions, Shaw was briefly light welterweight champion in 1933 before being ousted by Tony Canzoneri.

 

NAMIBIA - HARRY SIMON (1998)

      Undefeated in 26 fights (with 18 knockouts) Simon would have surely done more to cement his legacy had his boxing career not been punctuated with several jail terms.  Nevertheless, he was able to claim a majority decision against Winky Wright in 1998.

 

NEW ZEALAND - BILLY MURPHY (1890)

      Nicknamed ‘Australian’ Billy Murphy you’d be forgiven for not realising one of the early featherweight greats was actually born in Auckland.  He set sail for San Francisco on the steamer Zelandia in 1889 where, the following year, he knocked out Irishman Ike Weir to become the first and so far only kiwi world champion.

 

NICARAGUA - ALEXIS ARGUELLO (1974)

      Voted by Ring Magazine as the 20^th greatest puncher of all time and by the Associated Press as the greatest light welterweight on the twentieth century, The Explosive Thin Man became a national hero when in 1974 he dethroned Ruben Olivares to become world featherweight champion.  He would relinquish the belt to campaign at higher weights, winning belts in three divisions and never losing a title in the ring.

 

NIGERIA - HOGAN BASSEY (1957)

Bassey set his home up in Liverpool in 1952 and soon impressed people with his lethal punching power.  Five years later he returned from Paris with the world featherweight title having beaten home favourite CherifHamia.

 

NORTHERN IRELAND - RINTY MONAGHAN (1947)

      John Joseph Monaghan was nicknamed Rinty by his grandmother (apparently short for Rin Tin Tin due to his love of dogs).  He claimed the flyweight belt from Jackie Peterson in 1947 and held it for two years.

 

NORWAY - PETE SANSTOL (1931)

      Having moved around Europe at the beginning of his career, Sanstol relocated to New York and then Canada in 1930.  He beat Archie Bell for the bantamweight strap in 1931 before losing it two years to a truly brilliant bantamweight in Panama Al Brown.  To this day Sanstol is the greatest boxer Norway has ever produced.

 

PANAMA - PANAMA AL BROWN (1929)

      The freakishly tall bantamweight went over 160 bouts without ever being knocked out (a record for a world champion that still stands and is unlikely to be broken).  Brown became the first ever Hispanic world champion in 1929 when he beat Vidal Gregorio on points.

 

PHILIPPINES - PANCHO VILLA (1923)

      Despite dying at the tragically young age of 23, Pancho Villa rose from poverty to be one of the greatest flyweights of all time.  He became the first Asian boxing world champion in 1923 by beating an aging Jimmy Wilde.  Sadly he would die before truly fulfilling his potential - not in the ring as so many of his contemporaries did, but from an infection following a tooth extraction.

 

POLAND - DARIUSZ MICHALSZEWSKI (1994)

      Between the time he stopped Leeonzer Barber to win the WBO light heavyweight title and 2003 when he lost to Julio Cesar Gonzalez, the Pole strung together a phenomenal 23 defences - a feat not seen since the likes of Joe Louis!

 

PUERTO RICO - SIXTO ESCOBAR (1934)

      Not only did Escobar mix it with the best bantamweights in what was a golden age for the division, he was so popular back home in Puerto Rico that a stadium was named in his honour.  He first staked a claim to the title in 1934 following the withdrawn recognition of Panama Al Brown.

 

ROMANIA -MICHAEL LOEWE (1997)

      Loewe is one of very few world champions that retired undefeated.  He won the vacant WBO welterweight strap in his penultimate bout before defending it in his last match before retiring on medical grounds.

 

RUSSIA - LOUIS KID KAPLAN (1925)

      Kaplan was born in Russia (modern day Ukraine) in 1901 but his family emigrated to the United States when he was five and he became a nationalised American.  When featherweight champion Johnny Dundee retired in 1924 a tournament was set up to find his successor.  He won the title but after a few wins had to relinquish the belt to fight at lightweight as he was struggling to make the weight.

 

SAMOA - MASELINO MASOE (2004)

      Samoan-born Kiwi Masoe won the WBA world middleweight title in 2004 but lost it in his first defence in 2006.

 

SCOTLAND -JOHNNY HILL (1928)

      Most people think Benny Lynch is Scotland’s first world champion, when in fact it was Johnny Hill who beat Lynch by a decade.  The Edinburgh flyweight won the vacant world title against Newsboy Brown in 1928.  He successfully defended it twice but on the morning he was due to face Frankie Genaro, Hill died of pneumonia.

 

SENEGAL -BATTLING SIKI (1922)

      The World War I veteran resumed his successful fistic career in 1919 and his hard work was rewarded when he was given a crack at Georges Carpentier’s light heavyweight title in 1922. Siki claimed afterwards that he had agreed to take a dive but when The Orchid Man got a bit too rough for his liking the eccentric Senegalese binned the plan and set about Carpentier knocking him out in the sixth round.

 

SERBIA - SLOBODAN KACAR (1985)

      The Serb beat Eddie Mustafa Muhammad for the IBF light heavyweight belt but lost it in his first defence against Bobby Cycz.

 

SLOVENIA - ARMAND KRAJNC (1999)

      The Swedish Slovenian nicknamed The Lion was middleweight champion from 1999 to 2002.

 

SOUTH AFRICA - VIC TOWEEL (1950)

      After an incredible amateur career consisting of 188 wins (160 via knockout) and just 2 losses, Toweel turned pro in 1949 and took just one year to claim the world bantamweight title which he held for two years.

 

SPAIN - BALTAZAR SANGCHILI (1935)

      One of those boxers who seem to have been lost to the history books, Sangchili should probably be more highly regarded than he is.  He beat some very good fighters in his day including Panama Al Brown and Victor Perez.

 

SURINAME - REGILIO TUUR (1994)

      The brilliantly nicknamed Tuurific held the WBO super featherweight strap for three years in the mid-nineties.

 

SWEDEN - INGEMAR JOHANSSON (1959)

      Another of boxing’s colourful characters, Johansson’s hat-trick of bouts with Floyd Patterson remain the only time the heavyweight championship has been contested three times consecutively by the same two fighters.

 

SWITZERLAND -FRANK ERNE (1899)

      Being a lightweight around the turn of the twentieth century was a lot like being a middleweight in the 1940’s or a heavyweight 1970’s, the division was at an all-time high.  After several unsuccessful attempts at a world belt Erne beat George ‘Kid’ Lavigne in 1899 and defended it for two years against the likes of Joe Gans and Jack O’Brien.

 

THAILAND - PONE KINGPETCH (1960)

      Kingpetch was world flyweight champion three times between 1960 and 1965.

 

TOBAGO - CLAUDE NOEL (1981)

      Lightweight Noel held a world title for three months before losing it on points in his first defence.

 

TRINIDAD - LESLIE STEWART (1987)

      The Laventille Tiger was WBA light heavyweight champion for just four months in 1987, Virgil Hill beating him in his first defence.

 

TUNISIA - VICTOR PEREZ (1931)

      One of the youngest world champions in history, the tough Tunisian flyweight beat Frankie Genaro in 1931 before losing it to Jackie Brown the following year.  Jewish Perez was transferred to Auschwitz in World War II and was killed on the death march from Monowitz to Gleiwitz in 1945.

 

UGANDA - AYUB KALULE (1979)

      Kalule won the WBA light middleweight title Masashi Kudo in Japan and held onto it until he took on Sugar Ray Leonard in 1981, giving him an unexpected run for his money in the process.

 

UKRAINE - VITALI KLITSCHKO (1999)

      Former kick-boxing world champion and genuine doctor of sports science, the older Klitschko became the first Ukranian-born world champion in 1999 and is unfortunately the nearest thing the sweet science of today has to a world class heavyweight.

 

UNITED STATES - PADDY DUFFY (1888)

      The Boston born Irish-American won a 45 round disqualification versus Australian Tom Meadows for the world welterweight belt.  Sadly he was also the first reigning world boxing champion to die, succumbing to tuberculosis at the age of 25 in 1890.

 

UZBEKISTAN - ARTUR GRIGORIAN (1996)

      King Artur held on to his lightweight crown for an impressive seven years, eight months.  Not far shy of Benny Leonard’s stint as champion.

 

VENEZUELA -CARLOS MOROCHO HERNANDEZ (1965)

      Hernandez held both WBA and WBC light welterweight titles for just over a year in the mid-sixties.

 

VIRGIN ISLANDS - EMILE GRIFFITH (1961)

      Nobody in history has boxed more rounds in world title fights (339), Griffith’s rivalry with Benny Paret gave boxing one of its most enthralling trilogies, albeit with a tragic end for Paret.  Griffith won his first world title from the Cuban in 1961.

 

WALES -PERCY JONES (1914)

      Just as most people think Benny Lynch was the first Scottish champion, most would guess at Jimmy Wilde being the first Welsh champ.  Actually, Percy Jones earned his stripes as a fighter the same way in which The Mighty Atom did, in the local boxing booths of the valleys.  Then in 1914 he was given a shot at Bill Ladbury’s world flyweight title which he duly took but it was to be a short lived reign, losing the belt to Scot Tancy Lee later in the year.  Jones retired from boxing for good in 1915.

 

YUGOSLAVIA- MATE PARLOV (1978)

      Regarded as one of the greatest sportsmen modern-day Croatia has ever produced, Parlov held the light heavyweight title for part of 1978.  He also took part in the first two world cruiserweight title bouts against Marvin Camel, drawing the first and losing the second.

 

ZAIRE - SUMBU KALAMBAY (1987)

      Kalambay unanimously beat Iran Barkley on points for the WBA middleweight title which he lost to Mike McCallum four years later.