Best Boxing Countries Of All Time
There are a handful of particular countries that have become renowned for consistently producing elite boxers. For some countries, boxing is a major part of their culture and through generations of fighting, they have earned a reputation for producing elite boxers.
But who produces the best boxers in the world? Well on the surface the answer is clear and simple, it would be America. They have the most world champions, they make up 15 of the current top pound for pound fighters, and they produced arguably the best boxer of all time in Sugar Ray Robinson. However, because of things like the population, this isn’t always a fair comparison or a good indicator as to how good the country is at producing elite boxers.
There are many more factors that go into determining which country has been the most successful in boxing.
We’ve tried to break down which country produces the best boxers from a factual and statistical perspective. However, boxing isn’t a tangible sport and everything is incredibly subjective, so while we can filter through all the numbers, what really makes a country great at boxing is its reputation and the mystique it carries. But regardless, this is what we concluded from our research:
- Out of the current top 50 pound-for-pound fighters in the world, America comes out on top with 15 fighters in the top 50
- Thailand has the highest percentage of world champions in proffesional boxing with 14.98 percent of Thai fighters obtaining a world title.
- America has produced the most world champions at 455
- Mexico usually comes in second to America but it is often proportionate to the size of the population and the number of professional boxers
- America is typically regarded as the country that has produced the best boxers
- Mexico has arguably the most rich history of boxing and have built a repuation for producing the most fearsome boxers
Most World Champions By Country
As predicted, America comes on top again when looking at the number of world champions produced with 455 champions. However, their percentage of world champions out of all American professional boxers is quite low at 1.88 percent.
The country with the highest percentage of world champions is actually Thailand with an astonishing 14.98 percent. South Korea is a close second with 14.37 of fighters percent obtaining a world title. The reasoning behind these astonishing percentages is unclear. But we anticipate its due to different stipulations for boxing liscences in different countries.
| Country | All-Time Number of Professional Boxers | Number of World Champions Produced | Percentage World Champions |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States of America | 24,128 | 455 | 1.88 |
| Mexico | 3490 | 153 | 4.38 |
| United Kingdom | 8813 | 101 | 1.14 |
| Japan | 2784 | 82 | 2.94 |
| Puerto Rico | 586 | 48 | 8.19 |
| South Korea | 320 | 46 | 14.37 |
| Thailand | 307 | 46 | 14.98 |
| Argentina | 1630 | 43 | 2.63 |
| Philippines | 1608 | 40 | 2.48 |
| Columbia | 327 | 36 | 11 |
Current Pound For Pound Boxer’s Countries
To find out which country has been producing the finest boxers in recent times, we took the top 50 pound-for-pound fighters as of March 2022 via worldboxingnews.net and categorized them by their respective countries.
| Fighter | Country |
|---|---|
| Saul Alvarez | Mexico |
| Oleksandr Usyk | Ukraine |
| Tyson Fury | United Kingdom |
| Naoya Inoue | Japan |
| Errol Spence | United States of America |
| Roman Gonzalez | Nicaraguan |
| Terence Crawford | United States of America |
| Vasyl Lomachenko | Ukraine |
| Nonito Donaire | Philippines |
| Juan Estrada | Mexico |
| George Kambosos Jr | Australian |
| Gervonta Davis | United States of America |
| Kazuto Ioka | Japan |
| Gennadiy Golovkin | Kazakhstan |
| Jack Catterall | United Kingdom |
| Jermell Charlo | United States of America |
| Josh Taylor | United Kingdom |
| Teofimo Lopez | United States of America |
| Yordenis Ugas | Cuba |
| Oscar Valdez | Mexico |
| Artur Beterbiev | Russia |
| Leo Santa Cruz | Mexico |
| Kosei Tanaka | Japan |
| Shakur Stevenson | United States of America |
| Srisaket Sor Rungvisai | Thailand |
| Jose Ramirez | United States of America |
| Anthony Joshua | United Kingdom |
| Deontay Wilder | United States of America |
| Jermall Charlo | United States of America |
| Stephen Fulton Jr | United States of America |
| Emanuel Navarrete | Mexico |
| Dmitry Bivol | Russia |
| Regis Prograis | United States of America |
| Andy Ruiz Jr | Mexico |
| Wanheng Menayothin | Thailand |
| Keith Thurman | United States of America |
| Demetrius Andrade | United States of America |
| David Benavidez | United States of America |
| Guillermo Rigondeau | Cuba |
| John Riel Casimero | Philippines |
| Miguel Berchelt | Mexico |
| Gilberto Ramirez | Mexico |
| Mairis Briedis | Latvia |
| Murodjon Akhmadaliev | Uzbekistan |
| Jerwin Ancajas | Philippines |
| Jaime Munguia | Mexico |
| Jesse Rodriguez | United States of America |
| Mark Magsayo | Philippines |
| Hiroto Kyoguchi | Japan |
| Brian Castano | Argentina |
With this form of measurement, America dominates the other countries, having 15 fighters out of the top 50. Mexico comes second with a respectable 9 fighters, while the UK, Japan, & Philippines come third with 4 fighters each. It’s no surprise that America is doing so well, firstly boxing is a popular sport in the United States but they have so many times more fighters than lots of the countries as well the latest in sports technology and research.
| Country | Number of Fighters From Current Top 50 Pound For Pound |
|---|---|
| United States of America | 15 |
| Mexico | 9 |
| United Kingdom | 4 |
| Japan | 4 |
| Philippines | 4 |
| Ukraine | 2 |
| Cuba | 2 |
| Russia | 2 |
| Thailand | 2 |
| Nicaragua | 1 |
| Australia | 1 |
| Kazakhstan | 1 |
| Latvia | 1 |
| Uzbekistan | 1 |
| Argentina | 1 |
All Time Pound For Pound Boxer’s Countries
We also gathered the data to find which countries produced the all-time best pound-for-pound boxers. We took the top 50 pound-for pounds boxers via boxrec.com and categorized them by their respective countries.
| Fighter | Country |
|---|---|
| Ray Robinson | United States of America |
| Floyd Mayweather Jr | United States of America |
| Jimmy McLarnin | Canada |
| Benny Leonard | United States of America |
| Muhammad Ali | United States of America |
| Carlos Monzon | Argentina |
| Holman Williams | United States of America |
| Marvin Hagler | United States of America |
| Harry Greb | United States of America |
| Henry Armstrong | United States of America |
| Joe Louis | United States of America |
| Tony Canzoneri | United States of America |
| Ray Leonard | United States of America |
| Sammy Mandell | United States of America |
| Bernard Hopkins | United States of America |
| Archie Moore | United States of America |
| Lennox Lewis | United Kingdom |
| Andre Ward | United States of America |
| Emile Griffith | U.S. Virgin Islands |
| Manny Pacquiao | Philippines |
| Saul Alvarez * | Mexico |
| Young Corbett III | United States of America |
| Charley Burley | United States of America |
| Jose Napoles | Cuba |
| Joe Calzaghe | United Kingdom |
| Mike Gibbons | United States of America |
| Floyd Patterson | United States of America |
| Barney Ross | United States of America |
| Roberto Duran | Panama |
| Roy Jones Jr | United States of America |
| Jack Britton | United States of America |
| Duilio Loi | Italy |
| Rocky Kansas | United States of America |
| Julio Cesar Chavez | Mexico |
| Ted Kid Lewis | United Kingdom |
| Ezzard Charles | United States of America |
| Rocky Marciano | United States of America |
| Oscar De La Hoya | United States of America |
| Evander Holyfield | United States of America |
| Jake LaMotta | United States of America |
| Wladimir Klitschko | Ukraine |
| Lloyd Marshall | United States of America |
| Pete Latzo | United States of America |
| Harold Johnson | United States of America |
| Felix Trinidad | Puerto Rio |
| Gene Fullmer | United States of America |
| Lou Ambers | United States of America |
| Gene Tunney | United States of America |
| Carlos Ortiz | Puerto Rico |
| Jackie Fields | United States of America |
While boxing originated from ancient Greece and the modern itteration of boxing began in England, America has a massive proportion of the top 50 pound-for-pound fighters to ever live at 37 out of 50. This is probably because after the 1920’s when prizefighting was legalized in New York and several other states, the popularity of boxing surged. This also around the time that names and logistics started to be recorded hence producinng a database of predominantly American fighters.
| Country | Number of Fighters From All-Time Top 50 Pound For Pound |
|---|---|
| United States of America | 37 |
| Mexico | 2 |
| Puerto Rico | 2 |
| Philippines | 1 |
| Ukraine | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 1 |
| Panama | 1 |
| Italy | 1 |
| Cuba | 1 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 1 |
| Canada | 1 |
| Argentina | 1 |
Conclusion
As we mentioned earlier, facts and statistics only tell half the story. Since boxing isn’t eaxactly measurable, people’s opinion on what country produces the best boxers will vary. Many people will make a compelling arguement that Mexico produces the best fighters in the world. The front footed Mexican style of boxing is a style that must be respected for its dependence on will power. I personally can’t decide which single country produces the boxers but I would say that the USA, UK, & Mexico are among the top three.
