The current world heavyweight boxing champions ahead of Fury vs Usyk

The fight game’s complex political landscape means even some fight fans struggle to name the current world heavyweight boxing champions.

There are four accepted major governing bodies which each has a world heavyweight champion – the World Boxing Council (WBC), the World Boxing Association (WBA), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO).

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Add to that the Ring magazine championship – awarded by publication which is widely perceived to be ‘the bible of boxing’ – and the beltless but still important ‘lineal’ championship, and it’s easy to see why people might become confused.

Here is a rundown on the situation after Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou and heading ever closer to that massive Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk unification battle.

There is seldom one answer to the question ‘Who is the current heavyweight champion?’:

The current heavyweight boxing world champions

WBC world heavyweight champion: Tyson Fury

The World Boxing Council was founded in 1963 and is based in Mexico. It is probably the most famous of all the governing bodies. It is now presided over by President Mauricio Sulaiman (son of former President Jose Sulaiman). Its hallowed green belt is something all top-level fighters want to hold at some stage in their career.

Tyson Fury (34-0-1) became the WBC world heavyweight champion in February 2020 when he crushed the previously unbeaten Deontay Wilder at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. He then successfully retained his title with an 11th-round knockout victory over Wilder in a wildly exciting trilogy match, again in Las Vegas, on October 9, 2021.

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Fury again retained the WBC title when he stopped the mandatory contender Dillian Whyte with a peach of an uppercut late in Round 6 in front of 94,000 fans at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Fury talked about retirement in the immediate aftermath of his win, but clearly now he is back and he produced another masterclass to retain the hallowed green belt with a brutal beatdown of Dereck Chisora in December 2022.

The eagerly-awaited showdown with Oleksandr Usyk has at last been signed – but it will now take place in May (not February as initially planned) after Fury sustained a ‘freak cut’ in sparring.

IBF world heavyweight champion: Oleksandr Usyk

The International Boxing Federation was founded in 1983 and is based in New Jersey. It provided Anthony Joshua with his first world heavyweight title back in 2016. AJ stopped American Charles Martin inside two rounds at London’s O2 Arena. It was only his 16th professional fight.

Joshua lost the IBF belt in that stunning upset defeat to late stand-in opponent Andy Ruiz Jr in New York in June 2019. He gained revenge by outpointing Ruiz Jr in Saudi Arabia in December 2019 to once again reach the highest level of the heavyweight division.

Once again standing on the brink of that showdown with Fury, Joshua defended his belts against Ukrainian former cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 25, 2021.

Despite starting favourite, Joshua was in trouble right from the start as Usyk befuddled him with terrific hand speed and elite movement and ring craft. Oleksandr built an early lead, and although AJ had some success in the middle rounds it was the Ukrainian challenger who finished the stronger to claim a unanimous decision by 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113.

Usyk of course would follow that up with another brilliant victory in the rematch with Joshua in August 2022 in Jeddah. AJ put up a much better showing and appeared to have Usyk in serious trouble in Round 9, but the champion showed incredible fighting heart again to turn the fight around and finish strong.

After negotiations for Usyk to fail Fury for all the marbles stalled, the brilliant Ukrainian instead locked horns with another Briton in the shape of powerful Londoner Daniel Dubois in Wroclaw, Poland in August 2023. After coming through an early scare, Usyk duly prevailed by TKO in Round 9 to retain his title.

Usyk’s IBF strap of course will next be on the line for that massive showdown with Fury. After that though, things could get interesting fast.

The IBF has says the winner of Fury vs Usyk should fight top-ranked contender Filip Hrgovic, but instead they will likely rematch each other instead. That means the title will become vacant.

The next step is for Hrgovic to fight the #2 contender, which until the ‘Day of Reckoning’ was Swede Otto Wallin. A certain Anthony Joshua claimed that spot by demolishing Wallin, so AJ vs Hrgovic for the vacant title could be a thing in the summer of 2024.

WBA world heavyweight champion: Oleksandr Usyk

The World Boxing Association was founded back in 1921 and is based in Panama. It is the oldest of boxing’s major governing bodies and runs under the stewardship of President Gilberto Mendoza.

The current WBA world heavyweight champion is Usyk (20-0), who retained the belt with that superb split decision victory over Joshua in Saudi Arabia in August 2022. He then stopped Dubois in Poland in August 2023 to successfully defend again.

The belt will next be up for grabs when Usyk meets Fury on May 18.

WBO world heavyweight champion: Oleksandr Usyk

The World Boxing Organization was founded in 1988 and is based in Puerto Rico. It is now the third of the world heavyweight titles held by new champion Oleksandr Usyk.

Usyk won the title with that terrific performance to dethrone Anthony Joshua courtesy of a unanimous decision in front of a crowd of more than 67,000 fans in London. He then defended it successfully with a close but clear victory over Joshua in their Jeddah rematch in August 2022. Next up came that stoppage win over Duboi.

Again, the WBO belt will be part of the prize for that colossal Fury vs Usyk showdown on May 18 in Saudi Arabia.

The mandatory contender for the WBO title right now is New Zealander Joseph Parker, who claimed the interim belt by outpointing Zhilei Zhang in Riyadh in March 2024. Parker must now rematch Zhang to retain the spot as he looks to become world champion for a second time.

Lineal world heavyweight champion: Tyson Fury

The title of lineal heavyweight champion is the one most respected by hardcore fight fans.

The lineal champion in boxing is “the man who beat the man”. This avoids the confusion caused by fighters vacating some or all of their belts, or being stripped of them.

The current lineal world heavyweight champion is Tyson Fury. He took that moniker in November 2015 when he defeated previous champion Wladimir Klitschko on points in Dusseldorf. Fury is still undefeated inside a ring. He confirmed his lineal status with that crushing defeat of Wilder in February 2020 and retained the title with that stoppage win in their trilogy match in October 2021.

Fury once again successfully defended that lineal moniker in April 2022, when he stopped Dillian Whyte in Round 6 at London’s Wembley Stadium. He followed up with that brilliant performance to beat Chisora to a pulp in their December 2022 trilogy fight.

The lineal title will be on the line when Fury vs Usyk eventually goes down on May 18.

Ring magazine world heavyweight champion: Oleksandr Usyk

The Ring magazine world heavyweight title is worthy of mention due to the standing the belt. It is a form of lineal title – and the publication itself is still revered in boxing circles.

The current title holder is Oleksandr Usyk, who claimed the title with that victory over Joshua in their Saudi Arabia rematch in August 2022. That fight came just days after previous champion Fury had confirmed he was vacating the title. Usyk then successfully defended the strap with that win over Dubois in Poland.

The Ring strap will be up for grabs when Usyk locks horns with Fury on May 18.

Undisputed world heavyweight champion

There is no undisputed heavyweight champion right now. The coveted status is given to a fighter who holds the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO world titles simultaneously.

The last fighter to be the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world was Britain’s Lennox Lewis. He outpointed Evander Holyfield in their rematch in Las Vegas in November 1999 to unify the titles.

The list of legendary fighters to have been undisputed heavyweight champion in days gone by also includes Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and Mike Tyson.

As for the next undisputed king, the wait goes on. But we should finally have an undisputed heavyweight champion when eventually the winner of Fury vs Usyk will be crowned. 

What belts does Tyson Fury have?

Fury has just that one solitary belt – the hallowed green and gold WBC version. The lineal title he holds does not come with an actual belt.

What belts does Anthony Joshua have?

Right now, Joshua has no belts. He is a two-time heavyweight champion – and on both occasions he held the IBF, WBA and WBO versions. He lost the titles to Andy Ruiz in 2019 before regaining them in a rematch in December of that year. Then he lost them a second time to Usyk in September 2021.