Inboxing, theundisputed champion of aweight class is the boxer who simultaneously holds world titles from all major organizations[1][2] recognized by each other and theInternational Boxing Hall of Fame. There are currently four major sanctioning bodies:WBA,WBC,WBO, andIBF. There were many undisputed champions before the number of major sanctioning bodies recognizing each other increased to four in 2007, but there have been only 24 boxers (11 male and 13 female) to hold all four titles simultaneously.
Prior to the 1960s, most champions were "undisputed",[3] although the term was rarely used (it does not appear in one 1970Boxing Dictionary).[4] Early boxing champions at various weight divisions were established by acclamation between 1880 and 1920. Once a consensus champion had been awarded the title, the championship could usually be taken only by beating the reigning holder, establishing alineal championship.
TheNew York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) recognized champions from its foundation in 1920.[5] The National Boxing Association (NBA) was founded by other U.S. state bodies in 1921, and began recognising champions in 1927.[5] Until the 1960s, both usually recognised the same lineal champion.[3] However, disputes could arise if the champion retired or moved to a different weight class. Occasionally, the International Boxing Union (renamed theEuropean Boxing Union in 1946) recognised a different champion. The disputes were usually short-lived as a lucrative fight would be organised between the rival champions. The longest split was ten years, of themiddleweight title, betweenMickey Walker's move up to heavyweight in 1931 and NBA championTony Zale's defeat of NYSAC contenderGeorgie Abrams in 1941.[6] An early use of "undisputed" appears in aNew York Times preview of the 1941 fight.[7]
The growing popularity of boxing outside of the U.S. led to creation of various boxing organizations, each strengthening their influence – most notably theBritish Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) – and having their own champion. This resulted in a growing number of boxers claiming to be legitimate champions. The disruption in boxing was solved afterWorld War II when theWorld Championship Committee (WCC) was created with NBA as its unanimous authority. The committee, however, was disbanded in 1955 when NBA, along with its new members (which included the Orient, Mexican and South American federations and boxing commissions of the Philippines and Thailand) left WCC citing lack of control over the organisation. The NBA's voting scheme guaranteed one vote for each state commission as well as one vote for each foreign country.[8][9] On August 23, 1962, the NBA officially became theWorld Boxing Association and moved their headquarters toPanama City, Panama.
A year later NYSAC along with European Boxing Union and BBBofC supported creation of theWorld Boxing Council. WBC was officially established on February 14, 1963, inMexico City, Mexico by 11 countries (the U.S., Argentina, U.K., France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama,Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil) that were invited by thePresident of MexicoAdolfo López Mateos to form an international organization to unify all commissions of the world to control the expansion of boxing.[10] The reason for the move were concerns about WBA's alleged lack of desire to support professional boxing outside of the U.S..[11]
In April 1983, members ofUnited States Boxing Association along with Robert W. Lee (a former WBA vice-president) voted to expand the organisation and form the USBA-International. The organization later changed the name toInternational Boxing Federation.[12] The inaugural IBF heavyweight champion wasLarry Holmes, who relinquished the WBC title to accept IBF's recognition, thus helping the newly formed organization to establish its legitimacy.[13] The fragmentation of titles was thus increased. After some negotiations, theheavyweight title was unified in theheavyweight unification series, a series of coordinated bouts in 1986 and 1987, withMike Tyson emerging as the first undisputed champion (WBA, WBC, and IBF) sinceLeon Spinks in 1978.[14] The title was split again in 1992 whenRiddick Bowe forfeited the WBC title.
Another major sanctioning body, theWorld Boxing Organization, was established in 1988 inSan Juan, Puerto Rico by a group of local businessmen. At the beginnings, when most of the challengers for WBA, WBC, and IBF titles were Americans, WBO had a wider variety of countries, mainly European, represented in title bouts. Before theKlitschko Era, the United Kingdom tied the United States for most wins in WBO heavyweight title fights with eight.[15] In 1997, WBO titlistNaseem Hamed was allowed to unify titles for the first time in WBO history; on February 8, he defeatedTom Johnson to become unified WBO and IBF featherweight champion. By 2001, the WBA was giving the same recognition to WBO champions as to WBA, WBC, and IBF champions.[16] In 2004, the WBC began naming WBO champions on its ranking listings.[17] The IBF did not recognise the WBO in May 2006,[18] but was doing so by February 2007.[19] Conversely, the WBO has been explicitly recognizing the other three sanctioning bodies since at least October 1, 2008.[20]
Until at least 2008, many considered it sufficient to hold the WBA, WBC, and IBF titles.[21][22][23] Other bodies such as theIBO,IBU, and World Boxing Foundation are disregarded.
Only eleven men have held all four versions of the belts at the same time, three of whom have been the only male boxers to have done so in multiple divisions.
Only thirteen women have held all four versions of the belts at the same time, two have done so in two divisions.
As of September 2025, there have been forty fights with all four belts on the line.
If a fighter wins all the titles but is stripped by one organization of its title, he may continue to be considered the undisputed champion.
Roy Jones Jr. was called the undisputed light heavyweight champion after unifying the WBA, WBC, and IBF titles in June 1999.[24] He was later awardedThe Ring championship title. However, two of those titles (WBA and IBF) had been stripped fromDariusz Michalczewski, who had unified them with his WBO title by beating the lineal championVirgil Hill in June 1997 and subsequently remained unbeaten, defending his remaining title, until his first loss in October 2003.[25] Speaking of Jones' claim to being undisputed champion, one writer opined that the distinction "could just as easily belong to current WBO titleist Dariusz Michalczewski."[26]
Five months afterLennox Lewis unified the WBA, WBC, and IBF titles to become the undisputed heavyweight champion, a U.S. Federal Judge ruled that Lewis would be stripped by the WBA of their world championship belt for fightingMichael Grant instead of the association's #1 contender,John Ruiz. The fight took place on April 29, 2000. Lewis remained a unified world champion until April 22, 2001, when he was defeated byHasim Rahman. He regained the WBC and IBF titles following victory over Rahman seven months later in a rematch. His reign as a unified world champion ended in September 2002, when he rejected the chance to fight the IBF's #1 contender,Chris Byrd, and was therefore stripped by the organisation of their belt. He retained his WBC title until his retirement in February 2004.
Jermain Taylor won all fourmiddleweight titles fromBernard Hopkins in July 2005, but was stripped of the IBF title for agreeing to a rematch rather than fightingSam Soliman.[27] Nevertheless, he was still described as "undisputed champion" by some reports.[28][29]
AfterJoe Calzaghe'ssuper middleweight victory overMikkel Kessler in November 2007, he was frequently described as "undisputed champion".[30][31][32][33] Others disputed this, because although he held the WBA, WBC, and WBO titles, he had vacated his IBF title in November 2006 for choosing to facePeter Manfredo Jr. as his next opponent instead ofmandatory challengerRobert Stieglitz.[34][35][36]
Teófimo López won theWBC Franchise lightweight title in addition to the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO andThe Ring magazine titles after beatingVasiliy Lomachenko inOctober 2020, and was subsequently reported by some media outlets to be the youngest four-belt undisputed champion of all-time at the age of 23 years old;[37] however, the WBC Franchise title is not universally recognized as a major world title.[38][39]
The unified champion is defined as a boxer that holds at least two world championships of major sanctioning bodies (WBA, WBC, IBF, or WBO) in their respective division.[40][41][42] Around 2004, the World Boxing Association recognized three different types: the unified champion (two-titles holder in the weight division or category, obliged to defend the title against WBA's No. 1 contender in 18 months periodically), the undisputed champion (three-title holder, mandatory defense against WBA's challenger in 21 months regularly), and the super champion (four-title holder, WBA's mandatory defense in 24 months periodically). The rules required only one unified/undisputed/super champion per weight class; the purse in the bid would be distributed in a 65/35 ratio in favor of the unified champion.[43] However, along with the changes to "super" status (besides holding more than one title, the super titles were awarded to champions that were able to defend the WBA title 5 times),[41] the term "undisputed" was dropped completely.
Keys:
| Weight class | Champion | Recognition | Consec. defenses | Reign began |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mini flyweight | Oscar Collazo | WBA, WBO | 2 | November 16, 2024 |
| Light flyweight | vacant | |||
| Flyweight | Ricardo Sandoval | WBA, WBC | 0 | July 30, 2025 |
| Super flyweight | Jesse Rodriguez | WBC, WBO | 0 | July 19, 2025 |
| Bantamweight | vacant | |||
| Super bantamweight | Naoya Inoue | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | 6 | July 23, 2023 |
| Featherweight | vacant | |||
| Super featherweight | vacant | |||
| Lightweight | vacant | |||
| Light welterweight | vacant | |||
| Welterweight | vacant | |||
| Light middleweight | vacant | |||
| Middleweight | Janibek Alimkhanuly | IBF, WBO | 1 | October 14, 2023 |
| Super middleweight | Terence Crawford | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | 0 | September 13, 2025 |
| Light heavyweight | Dmitry Bivol | WBA, IBF, WBO | 0 | February 22, 2025 |
| Cruiserweight | Gilberto Ramírez | WBA, WBO | 1 | November 16, 2024 |
| Heavyweight | Oleksandr Usyk | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | 5 | September 25, 2021 |
Keys:
| Weight class | Champion | Recognition | Consec. defenses | Reign began |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atomweight | Christina Rupprecht | WBC, WBO, WBA, IBF | 1 | November 23, 2024 |
| Mini flyweight | vacant | |||
| Light flyweight | Evelin Bermúdez | WBA, IBF, WBO | 4 | March 10, 2023[44] |
| Flyweight | Gabriela Fundora | IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO | 1 | November 2, 2024 |
| Super flyweight | vacant | |||
| Bantamweight | Cherneka Johnson | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | 0 | July 11, 2025 |
| Super bantamweight | Ellie Scotney | WBC, IBF, WBO | 2 | April 13, 2024[45] |
| Featherweight | Amanda Serrano | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | 6 | February 4, 2021[46] |
| Super featherweight | Alycia Baumgardner | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | 3 | November 13, 2021[47] |
| Lightweight | vacant | |||
| Light welterweight | Katie Taylor | WBA, IBF, WBO | 2 | November 25, 2023[48][49] |
| Welterweight | Lauren Price | WBA, WBC, IBF | 0 | March 7, 2025 |
| Light middleweight | Ema Kozin | WBC, WBO | 0 | November 18, 2023[50] |
| Middleweight | Desley Robinson | IBF, WBO | 0 | April 11, 2025 |
| Super middleweight | Franchón Crews-Dezurn | WBC, WBA | 1 | March 24, 2024 |
| Super middleweight | Shadasia Green | WBO, IBF | 0 | July 11, 2025 |
| Light heavyweight | vacant | |||
| Heavyweight | Claressa Shields | WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO | 1 | July 27, 2024 |
Keys:
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| Name | Title recognition | Division | Title bout wins | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  Wladimir Klitschko | WBA, IBF, WBO | Heavyweight | 15 |
| 2. |   José Nápoles | WBA, WBC | Welterweight | 14 |
 Muhammad Ali | WBA, WBC | Heavyweight | ||
 Naoya Inoue | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | Bantamweight Super Bantanmweight | ||
| 5. | Marvin Hagler | WBA, WBC, IBF | Middleweight | 13 |
| 6. |  Carlos Monzón | WBA, WBC | Middleweight | 12 |
| Roy Jones Jr. | WBA, WBC, IBF | Light heavyweight | ||
| 8. | Evander Holyfield | WBA, WBC, IBF | Heavyweight Cruiserweight | 11 |
| 9. | Bob Foster | WBA, WBC | Light heavyweight | 10 |
 Carlos Ortiz | WBA, WBC | Lightweight | ||
| 11. | Bernard Hopkins | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | Light heavyweight Middleweight | 9 |
| Mike Tyson | WBA, WBC, IBF | Heavyweight | ||
| 13. |  Emile Griffith | WBA, WBC | Middleweight Welterweight | 8 |
 Nino Benvenuti | WBA, WBC | Middleweight Light middleweight | ||
| Vicente Saldivar | WBA, WBC | Featherweight | ||
| 16. | Pernell Whitaker | WBA, WBC, IBF | Lightweight | 7 |
| 17. | Terence Crawford | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | Light welterweight Welterweight Super middleweight | 6 |
 Lennox Lewis | WBA, WBC, IBF | Heavyweight | ||
| Juan Manuel Márquez | WBA, IBF, WBO | Lightweight Featherweight | ||
 Gabriel Elorde | WBA, WBC | Super featherweight | ||
| Rubén Olivares | WBA, WBC | Bantamweight | ||
| 22. | Floyd Mayweather Jr. | WBA, WBC | Light middleweight Welterweight | 5 |
 Dick Tiger | WBA, WBC | Light heavyweight Middleweight | ||
 Sergey Kovalev | WBA, IBF, WBO | Light heavyweight | ||
 Gennady Golovkin | WBA, WBC, IBF | Middleweight | ||
| Fighting Harada | WBA, WBC | Bantamweight | ||
| Joe Frazier | WBA, WBC | Heavyweight | ||
 Kostya Tszyu | WBA, WBC | Light welterweight | ||
 Sven Ottke | WBA, IBF | Super middleweight | ||
| Terry Norris | WBC, IBF | Light middleweight | ||
| 31. | Andre Ward | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | Light heavyweight Super middleweight | 4 |
| Julio César Chávez | WBA, WBC, IBF | Light welterweight Lightweight | ||
 Vic Darchinyan | WBA, WBC, IBF | Super flyweight | ||
| George Foreman | WBA, WBC, IBF | Heavyweight | ||
| Guillermo Rigondeaux | WBA, WBO | Super bantamweight | ||
| Humberto González | WBC, IBF | Light flyweight | ||
| Naseem Hamed | WBO, IBF | Featherweight | ||
| Anthony Joshua | WBA, IBF, WBO | Heavyweight |
Keys:
| Name | Title recognition | Division | Consec. defenses | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Wladimir Klitschko | WBA, IBF, WBO | Heavyweight | 14 |
| 2. | Marvin Hagler | WBA, WBC, IBF | Middleweight | 12 |
| 3. | Muhammad Ali | WBA, WBC | Heavyweight | 10 |
| Roy Jones Jr. | WBA, WBC, IBF | Light heavyweight | ||
| 5. | Carlos Monzón | WBA, WBC | Middleweight | 9 |
| 6. | Mike Tyson | WBA, WBC, IBF | Heavyweight | 8 |
| 7. | Bernard Hopkins | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | Middleweight | 7 |
| Vicente Saldivar | WBA, WBC | Featherweight | ||
| 9. | Naoya Inoue | WBC, WBO | Super Bantanmweight | 6 |
| José Nápoles | WBA, WBC | Welterweight | ||
| Pernell Whitaker | WBA, WBC, IBF | Lightweight | ||
| 12. | Bob Foster | WBA, WBC | Light heavyweight | 5 |
| Gennady Golovkin | WBA, WBC, IBF | Middleweight | ||
| Carlos Ortiz | WBA, WBC | Lightweight | ||
| Gabriel Elorde | WBA, WBC | Super featherweight | ||
| 16. | Nino Benvenuti | WBA, WBC | Middleweight | 4 |
| Sergey Kovalev | WBA, IBF, WBO | Light heavyweight | ||
| Fighting Harada | WBA, WBC | Bantamweight | ||
| Joe Frazier | WBA, WBC | Heavyweight | ||
| Kostya Tszyu | WBA, WBC | Light welterweight | ||
| Sven Ottke | WBA, IBF | Super middleweight | ||
| Terry Norris | WBC, IBF | Light middleweight | ||
| 23. | Floyd Mayweather Jr. | WBA, WBC | Welterweight | 3 |
| Evander Holyfield | WBA, WBC, IBF | Heavyweight | ||
| Terence Crawford | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO | Light welterweight | ||
| Humberto González | WBC, IBF | Light flyweight | ||
| Juan Manuel Márquez | WBA, IBF | Featherweight | ||
| Vic Darchinyan | WBA, WBC, IBF | Super flyweight | ||
| Lennox Lewis | WBC, IBF | Heavyweight | ||
| Guillermo Rigondeaux | WBA, WBO | Super bantamweight | ||
| Anthony Joshua | WBA, IBF, WBO | Heavyweight |
Tournaments have been arranged to unify the titles in a weight class.
If one fighter manages to capture the titles of all the major organizations at once, this is known as "unifying" the title and the boxer is the "undisputed" champion.
For the purpose of unification of titles, the Champions of the World Boxing Association ("WBA") and the World Boxing Council ("WBC") may be designated as "elite contenders" and may be permitted to fight for the unified title. Unification bouts with other organizations will be considered on a case to case basis.
the undisputed welterweight champion of the world – owner of the IBF, WBC and WBA belts
Antonio Tarver has made his quest to add to his IBO light heavyweight title a playoff-like system. / "Right now, my goal is three fights, three belts, undisputed by the end of the year," Tarver said. / Round 1 begins April 12 against Clinton Woods at the St. Pete Times Forum. According to Tarver, he'll take Woods' IBF lightweight title, then he's going after Danny Green's WBA light heavyweight belt. After that, he'll take on the winner of the Chad Dawson-Glen Johnson fight, which on the undercard of his bout with Woods, for the WBC belt.
He wants to be undisputed, so that means he's got three belts out there that he wants. WBA, WBC, and IBF, those are the titles he wants.
Wright would rather be facing undisputed middleweight champ Jermain Taylor.
Joe Calzaghe was crowned undisputed world super-middleweight champion in Cardiff tonight
Joe Calzaghe, who is now the closest to being the undisputed Super Middleweight Champion of the World. (There's still the IBF Title if he's to have all four of the most recognized belts.)
Lucien Bute, whose claim to the International Boxing Federation title is all that stands between the Welshman and undisputed world champion status
Since when has holding the three major belts not been considered worthy of "undisputed?"
