List Of WBA World Champions
This is a list of WBA world champions, showing every world champion certified by the World Boxing Association (WBA). The list also includes champions certified by the National Boxing Association (NBA), the predecessor to the WBA. Boxers who won the title but were stripped due to the title bout being overturned to a no contest (combat sports), no contest are not listed i.e. Evgeny Tishchenko won the inaugural bridgerweight title but was subsequently stripped after testing positive for banned substance. In December 2000, the WBA created an unprecedented situation of having a split championship in the same weight class by introducing a new title called ''Super world'', commonly referred to simply as ''Super''. The ''Super'' champion is the WBA's primary champion, while the ''World'' champion – commonly known as the ''Regular'' champion by boxing publications – is only considered the primary champion by the other three major sanctioning bodies (World Boxing Council, WBC, Internat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World Boxing Association
The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded in the United States in 1921 by 13 state representatives as the NBA, it is the oldest major organization regulating fights. In 1962, it changed its name in recognition of boxing's growing popularity around the world and began to admit other nations as members. By 1975, a majority of its members were Latin American nations and the organization headquarters was moved to Panama City, Panama. It moved again in the 1990s to Venezuela before returning to Panama in 2007. Alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO), it was one of four major organizations which sanctions professional boxing bouts. As of August 2024, boxing website BoxRec no longer recognizes WBA world tit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed "the Brown Bomber", Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1937 until his temporary retirement in 1949. He was victorious in 25 consecutive title defenses, a record for all weight classes. Louis has the longest single reign as champion of any boxer in history. Louis's cultural impact was felt well outside the ring. He is widely regarded as the first African-American to achieve the status of a nationwide hero within the United States, and was also a focal point of anti-Nazi sentiment leading up to and during World War II because of his historic rematch with German boxer Max Schmeling in 1938. Early life Born on May 13, 1914, in rural Chambers County, Alabama—in a ramshackle dwelling on Bell Chapel Road, located about off Alabama State Route 50, Stat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joe Frazier
Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. Nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He was known for his strength, durability, formidable left hand, and relentless pressure fighting style. He was also the first boxer to defeat Muhammad Ali in 1971. Frazier won a gold medal at the Boxing at the 1964 Summer Olympics, 1964 Summer Olympics as an amateur boxing, amateur, held the New York State Athletic Commission, NYSAC List of heavyweight boxing champions, heavyweight title from 1968 to 1973, and was the Undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed heavyweight champion from 1970 to 1973. Frazier emerged as the top contender in the late 1960s, becoming undisputed heavyweight champion in 1970. In 1971, he defeated Ali by unanimous decision in the highly anticipated Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali, Fight of the Century. Two years later, Frazier ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jerry Quarry
Jerry Quarry (May 15, 1945 – January 3, 1999), nicknamed "Irish" or "The Bellflower Bomber", was an American professional boxer. During the peak of his career from 1968 to 1971, Quarry was a popular figure in boxing, featured on the cover ''The Ring'' and other boxing magazines, as well as on hit TV shows. His most famous bouts were against Muhammad Ali. He is regarded as being one of the best heavyweight boxers never to win a title. He beat former world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson and top contenders Ron Lyle, Earnie Shavers, Brian London, Thad Spencer, Buster Mathis, Randy Neumann, Jack Bodell, Mac Foster and Eduardo Corletti. The damage he accumulated from lack of attention to defense against larger men at the top level, no head guard sparring, and attempted comebacks in 1977, 1983, and 1992 resulted in Quarry developing an unusually severe case of dementia pugilistica. Boxing career Early life Quarry's family includes three other pro boxers (his father ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jimmy Ellis (boxer)
James Albert Ellis (February 24, 1940 – May 6, 2014) was an American professional boxer. He won the vacant WBA heavyweight title in 1968 by defeating Jerry Quarry, making one successful title defense in the same year against Floyd Patterson, before losing to Joe Frazier in 1970. Early life He was born one of ten children. His father, Walter, was a pastor, and Ellis was brought up as a Christian. As a teenager he worked in a cement finishing factory. He also sang in the local church choir, later joined by his wife Mary. He continued church involvement all his adult life. In his youth he admired the boxer Joe Louis. Amateur career Ellis got into boxing as a teenager after watching a friend box a fellow Louisville youngster Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) on a local amateur boxing television show called Tomorrow's Champions. "I had a friend of mine named Donnie Hall, and he fought Ali," Ellis said. "Donnie lost, and I thought I could maybe be a fighter then." Ellis w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eddie Machen
Edward Mills "Eddie" Machen (June 15, 1932 – August 8, 1972) was an American professional boxer. He was one of six children of a rural mail carrier. Machen dropped out of high school and became an amateur boxer. However, after just three bouts he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery. After his release, he became a professional boxer, determined never to return to prison again. His 64-bout career began on March 22, 1955, and he went on to win his first 24 bouts. He was highly rated and fought most of the big names of his era and he defeated many of the important names of his period such as Bob Baker, Jerry Quarry, Niño Valdés, Joey Maxim, Willi Besmanoff, Tommy Jackson, Brian London, Howard King and Doug Jones (boxer) Professional career Early career Machen often fought at Civic Auditorium or the Cow Palace in San Francisco. His first bout was with fellow first-timer Raul Flores, whom he knocked out in the first round. He had eleven fights in 1955 and the six- ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ernie Terrell
Ernest Terrell (April 4, 1939 – December 16, 2014) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1957 to 1973. He held the World Boxing Association's heavyweight title from 1965 to 1967, and was one of the tallest heavyweights of his era, at tall. He unsuccessfully fought the other world heavyweight champion of the era, Muhammad Ali, in a heavyweight title unification contest in 1967, losing by a unanimous decision. Terrell was the elder brother of the Supremes' early 1970s lead singer Jean Terrell. In the 1960s, Jean sang with Ernie's group Ernie Terrell & the Heavyweights. Early life Terrell was born on 4 April 1939 in Inverness, Mississippi, and spent his early childhood in Belzoni. He was born into a family of ten children, whose father was a Mississippi sharecropper who during Terrell's childhood moved the family north to Chicago when he found employment in the factories there. Terrell received his formal education at Farragut School in Chicago. Before turnin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Boxing Career Of Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali was a boxer widely regarded by many boxing commentators and historians as the greatest heavyweight boxing, boxer of all time. Boxing magazine ''The Ring (magazine), The Ring'' named him number one in a 1998 ranking of greatest heavyweights from all eras. In 1999, ''The Associated Press'' voted Ali the number one heavyweight of the 20th century. In 1999, Ali was named the second greatest boxer in the history of combat sports, pound for pound by ESPN. He was only behind the welterweight and middleweight legend Sugar Ray Robinson. In December 2007, ESPN placed Ali second in its choice of the greatest heavyweights of all time, behind Joe Louis. He was inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 1990. He was well known for popularizing and mastering the rope-a-dope fighting technique. Early career Clay made his professional debut on October 29, 1960, winning a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker. From then until the end o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sonny Liston
Charles L. "Sonny" Liston ( – December 30, 1970), nicknamed "the Big Bear", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1962 after knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round, repeating the knockout the following year in defense of the title; in the latter fight he also became the inaugural World Boxing Council, WBC heavyweight champion. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, Liston is known for his immense strength, formidable jab, long reach (physical measurement), reach, toughness, and is widely regarded as the most intimidating man in the history of combat sports. Although Liston was widely regarded as unbeatable, he Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston#Liston vs. Clay I, lost the title in 1964 to Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay), who entered as an 8:1 underdog (term), underdog. Liston retired in his corner due to an inflamed shoulder. Cont ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ingemar Johansson
Jens Ingemar "Ingo" Johansson (; 22 September 1932 – 30 January 2009) was a Swedish professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1963. He held the world heavyweight title from 1959 to 1960, and was the fifth heavyweight champion born outside the United States. Johansson won the title by defeating Floyd Patterson via third-round technical knockout, stoppage, after flooring him seven times in that round. For this achievement, Johansson was awarded the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year—the only non-American in its entire 27-year first run—and was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year, ''Sports Illustrated'' Sportsman of the Year. Johansson also held the European Boxing Union, European heavyweight title twice, from 1956 to 1958 and from 1962 to 1963. As an amateur boxing, amateur he won a silver medal in the heavyweight division at the Boxing at the 1952 Summer Olympics, 1952 Summer Olympics. He af ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Archie Moore
Archie Moore (born Archibald Lee Wright; December 13, 1913 – December 9, 1998) was an American professional Boxing, boxer and the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time (1952 – 1962). He had one of the longest professional careers in the history of the sport, competing from 1935 to 1963. Nicknamed "the Mongoose", and then "the Old Mongoose" in the latter half of his career, Moore was a highly strategic and defensive boxer. As of December 2020, BoxRec ranks Moore as the third greatest pound-for-pound boxer of all time. He also ranks fourth on ''The Ring (magazine), The Ring''s list of "100 greatest punchers of all time". Moore was also a trainer for a short time after retirement, training Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Bob Foster (boxer), Bob Foster, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Earnie Shavers and James Tillis. Born in Benoit, Mississippi, Moore was raised in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in poverty. Moore was denied a shot at the world title ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Floyd Patterson
Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in history to win the title, and was also the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He has been named among the top 15 heavyweights of all time. In 1956 and 1960, Patterson was voted Fighter of the Year by ''The Ring'' magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991. Early life Born January 4, 1935, into a poor family in Waco, North Carolina, Patterson was one of eleven children. Savannah Joe Patterson was his first cousin from out of Arkansas, he went and visited during the early summer years. He experienced an insular and troubled childhood. His family moved ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |