WBC Rankings & Champions

The World Boxing Council, abbreviated to ‘WBC’ is one of four major organizations that sanction world championship boxing fights. It was established on 14 February 1963 in Mexico City by eleven countries: USA, Mexico, England, France, Argentina, Philippines, Peru, Chile, Panama, Venezuela and Brazil upon the invitation of then Mexico president Adolfo Lopez Mateos. This union made the WBC perhaps the first boxing organization to truly capture the all-encompassing international status many of the other organizations didn’t have at the time.

The initial goal was to create an international organization that would manage all boxing committees in the world and to oversee the expansion of boxing across the globe. The primary founders were Mexicans Luis Spota and Ramon G. Velasquez who acted as presidents of the WBC, and Onslow Fane of England along with Justiniano Montano of the Philippines.

Of the five people that have held the post as presidents of the WBC, Dr. Jose Sulaiman Chagnon has been the longest serving. He became president on 5 December 1975 at a convention in Tunisia. Sulaiman is deemed responsible for strengthening the organization as one of the most important ones internationally. While at that time the WBC consisted of 21 affiliated countries, that number has now grown to 166 countries from all over the globe.

The WBC is credited with introducing some of the rules that transformed the sport of boxing:

1. The reduction of title fights from, the old style of, 15 rounds to 12.
2. Official weigh-ins taking place 24 hours before the fights.
3. The creation of many of the current weight divisions.
4. The four-rope ring.
5. The thumb-attached glove.
6. Doping tests after each fight sanctioned by the WBC.
7. Annual medical examinations for champions and classified boxers.
8. Life and hospitalization insurance for those fighters involved in title fights.
9. Retirement plans to support boxers in need throughout the world.

Following the death of Kim Duk-Koo after his fight against Ray Mancini, the WBC reduced the length of its world championship contests from 15 rounds to 12. Other boxing organizations and commission soon followed, with the aim of making boxing safer.

The World Boxing Council is closely affiliated with many boxing organizations operating on a continental level.

The WBC awards its champions of all 17 divisions with the recognizable green championship belt. All of the world-title belts look identical regardless of weight division. However, there are variations of the belt for secondary and regional titles within one weight class. The front part of the belt is gold plated and portrays the flags of all countries that are members of the organization.

Initially, the WBC belt was available only for 10 of the weight divisions. Titles in light flyweight, super flyweight, super bantamweight, super middleweight, and cruiserweight were inaugurated in the subsequent decades. The most recent title initiated was the minimumweight division in 1987.

Although primarily rivals, the WBC today has an improved relationship with the other sanctioning bodies. Unification bouts between WBC champions and other organizations’ champions are becoming more and more common. There were times when the WBC would prevent its fighters from having unification fights with other organizations’ champions (although they sometimes made exceptions).

For many years the WBC prevented its champions from holding the WBO belt. If a WBO champion wanted to get a hold of the WBC belt, he or she had to abandon his WBO belt first. However, this was changed in 2004, when they started naming WBO champions in their rankings each month.

Notable boxers throughout history that have been recognized as WBC world champions throughout all the divisions:

Besides the regular WBC title, the organization also awards other types of belts for exceptional achievements by boxers. One is the Emeritus Championship, only bestowed upon present or past WBC world champions. Being an Emeritus Champion in a division means that a boxer can, if he decides to fight for a WBC world title, automatically get a shot at it. An excellent example of this is Vitali Klitschko, who after retiring and vacating his WBC title in 2005, returned in 2008 and immediately got a shot at then-titleholder Samuel Peter. The WBC may designate and recognize one or more Emeritus world champions in each weight class when two-thirds of their Board of Governors vote in favor.

The following boxers have earned the Emeritus Championship appellation throughout their careers: Lennox Lewis, Vitali Klitschko, Roy Jones Jr, Bernard Hopkins (Honorary Champion), Mikkel Kessler, Sergio Gabriel Martínez, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Kostya Tszyu, Manny Pacquiao, Danny García, Érik Morales, Toshiaki Nishioka, Vic Darchinyan, Édgar Sosa and Tony Bellew.

During the WBC’s 51st Convention in Bangkok, Thailand, super welterweight and welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather was declared WBC Supreme Champion to honor his successful career. A unique honor awarded only once in its existence, granted by unanimous decision of all member countries of the WBC.

In September 2009, the WBC created the new Diamond Championship belt. It was established as an honorary championship to award a winner of a historic fight between two high-profile and elite boxers. One such contest was the blockbuster between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. It was first awarded on 14 November 2009, to Manny Pacquiao after his win over Miguel Cotto, which marked his sixth world title in 5 different divisions.

The WBC Eternal Championship is an honorary title awarded to dominant champions that never lost a world title and retired undefeated with a substantial number of title defenses behind them. Vitali Klitschko was recognized as Eternal Champion on December 12, 2016, after having ten successful title defenses during his run as WBC world heavyweight champion.

The WBC has also created a ‘Silver’ world title back in 2010, which acts as a replacement for what was before (and now in the other organizations) the interim title. The difference being that a boxer holding the Silver title cannot inherit the full title in the situation it is vacated by the champion.

The WBC rankings are decided by the WBC ratings committee and are primarily based on merit but may also be largely subjective. The ratings are based on reports of boxing matches, and reports from boxing commissions and regional federations from around the world.

For a boxer to be eligible to appear in the WBC rankings he should:

• Have defeated or drawn with a rated boxer.
• Be an Olympic medalist or have won other important amateur tournaments.
• Had a successful career in Muay Thai or other combat sports.
• By special circumstance, or be recommended by an affiliated federation.

To be rated in one of the top 15 positions:

• A boxer should have competed in at least one 10 round bout.
• A boxer should have fought against another rated fighter, which may include those ranked in the top 15 of other world organizations recognized by the WBC, within the 18-month period from the time the boxer was so rated.
• And to maintain a top 40 rating, a boxer should compete against another top 40-rated fighter within 18 months from the time the boxer was first rated.

Primary factors that attribute to a boxer’s rating are:

• Their record.
• Their activity.
• Their results and recent quality of their performances.
• Level of competition.
• The significance of their bouts.
• Experience in championship or elimination bouts.
• Accomplishments and record in amateur boxing, or in Muay Thai or other combat sport.
• Competing at home or abroad.
• The decisiveness of victories.
• Style.
• Losses in controversial decisions.

A boxer can drop or completely fall out of the ratings due to:

• Not competing in 9 months.
• The fighter is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude or the possession or consumption of any illegal substance.
• The boxer being suspended indefinitely by a local commission, affiliated federation, or the WBC.
• The boxer residing in a country in which apartheid is official policy.
• Plus other extenuating circumstances.

World champions of WBA, IBF, and WBO will be listed in each division as champions of their organization but shall not be specifically numerically rated.

A boxer may be listed in the “Not Available” section of the WBC Ratings if the boxer:

• Is committed or chooses to box for another organization.
• Is medically unfit or has not been medically cleared to compete.
• Has a legal issue or contractual impediment.
• Is subject to other extenuating circumstances.