The 10 Best Super-Middleweight Boxers: Who Are They?

“The Pride of Wales” Joe Calzaghe was the longest reigning super-middleweight champion in boxing history; his incredible, dominant reign lasting 10 years, 11 months, 22 days between 1997-2008.

Trained by his beloved father, Enzo, from the age of 10, young Joe secured seven national ABA titles (over three different weights – welter to middle) and won 110 from 120 amateur bouts.

“The Italian Dragon” made 21 successful title defences against 20 opponents, against boxing legends such as Chris Eubank, who he initially dethroned to become the WBO World super-middleweight champion in his 23rd contest, as well as Robin Reid, Richie Woodhall, Byron Mitchell, Jeff Lacy, Sakio Bika, Peter Manfredo Jr, Mikkel Kessler. 

Just how great was he? He went up to light-heavyweight in 2008 and defeated Hall of Famers Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr in the same year!

RJJ became a four-weight world champion after winning world titles at middle, super-middle, light-heavy and heavyweight.

He ended his amateur career with a record of 121-13, with multiple Golden Gloves medals, a gold in the 1984 Junior Olympics, but it all culminated with silver at the 1988 Olympic Games.

Jones won his first world title at 24-years-old in 1993, with a unanimous decision win over Bernard Hopkins. 18 months later, he won the super-middleweight strap against another boxing legend, James Toney.

His first loss came to Montell Griffin after he was disqualified for hitting after the break, so less than three months later, Jones fought him again and knocked him out in two-and-a-half minutes to win the light-heavyweight championship, becoming a triple world champion in just 36 bouts.

It was fight no.49 in 2002, aged 34, when he won his fourth weight world title against WBA heavyweight champ John Ruiz.

The American became known as “Captain Hook”, for his ability to throw the punch with such devasting effectiveness. His pure boxing technique and incredible skill saw him win fights and KO his foes with what looked like very minimal effort.

Remarkably, his last fight was only in 2023 at the age of 54. However, he is mostly seen in the corner as a coach, having coached Chris Eubank Jr. recently.

The Californian was known as “S.O.G.”, which stands for “Son of God”, and when you watch him box, you can see just why.

Boxing since he was 10, Andre racked up an astonishing 115-5 amateur record, culminating in an Olympic gold medal in 2004, before turning pro in December that same year.

Ward defeated Mikel Kessler in 2009, in the famous “Super Six World Boxing Classic” to win the WBA super-middleweight title. The tournament culminated in 2011 when Ward beat British boxing legend Carl Froch in the final.

After defending his belts a couple of times, he then campaigned at light-heavyweight, where he won the WBA, IBF, WBO light-heavyweight titles in an epic 12-round battle with a prime Sergey Kovalev. The contest was so close that the demand for the rematch was stratospheric, but Ward came back to end all talks of a robbery with a conclusive eighth-round knockout to end his career on the highest of highs.

Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank//Getty Images

Nigel Benn is one of the first names that comes to mind when you think of British boxing legends. That’s because he was a two-weight world champion, but mostly because of his ferocious punching and aggressive style of boxing.

The East Londoner won 41 amateur bouts, losing just once. He won the ABA title for West Ham ABC at middleweight in 1986.

“The Dark Destroyer” won the WBO World middleweight title against Doug DeWitt in 1990, then defended it in just one-round in his famous fight with Iran Barkley the same year.

His rivalry with fellow Brit Chris Eubank is one of the most iconic conflicts in boxing, who dethroned Benn in November 1990. 

Benn went on to become a two-weight world champion when he won the WBC super-middle belt in 1992. He and his biggest foe, Eubank, filled Old Trafford for their rematch, but the grudge match ended inconclusively on a draw.

After losing all three of his fights in 1996, the 32-year-old realised it was time to hang up the gloves. The Hall of Famer is considered the WBC’s greatest super-middleweight in history and can still be seen on screens supporting his son Conor in his professional boxing career.

James Toney was a three-weight world champion who competed from 1988 to 2017, participating in 15 world title fights across four weight classes.

From Michigan, Toney was a skilled, defensive fighter who perfected the shoulder roll taught to him by Ezzard Charles’ trainer, Bill Miller. Not only defensively sound, but he was powerful too, clocking up 47 stoppages, plus he was durable, having never been stopped in 92 fights.

His brief amateur career saw him win 33 from 35 bouts, but what is both rare and astonishing is that he won 32 by knockout. It’s why he earned the nickname “Lights Out” Toney from so young.

He reached 46-0 with IBF middle and super-middleweight belts, before losing to Roy Jones Jr in 1994.

During his almost 30-year career, he defeated the likes of Michael Nunn, Mike McCallum, Doug DeWitt, Iran Barkley, Steve Little, Evander Holyfield.

“The Hitman” Hearns was the first boxer in history to ever win world titles in five weight divisions: welter, super-welter, middle, super-middle, light-heavyweight,

“The Motor City Cobra” collected an amateur record of 155-8 before turning pro in 1977. He soon became a world champion, in 1980, first winning at welterweight, then he won a super-welterweight belt 1982, then remarkably jumped up to light-heavyweight in 1987 to win the WBC World title. In his next fight, he came back down to middleweight to win his fourth weight world title.

It was at super-middleweight in 1988 when he became a five-weight world champion. During his career that spanned four decades, he defeated the likes of Wilfred Benitez, Murray Sutherland, Roberto Duran, Doug DeWitt, Dennis Andries, Virgill Hill.

The eccentric Christopher Eubank was a two-weight world champion during his career that spanned from 1985-1998.

From Brighton, England, Eubank called himself “Simply the Best”, which perfectly personified his inflated ego. However, he backed up his arrogance by going unbeaten in his first decade as a professional boxer and by winning the WBO World middleweight and super-middleweight titles.

Similarly to his fierce rival, Nigel Benn, he lost two fights to Steve Collins and retired after losing his last three fights in a row, hanging up the gloves in 1998.

The only one on this esteemed list that is still an active fighter, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is a four-weight world champion from Mexico.

Canelo has been the face of boxing for the past decade and has defeated the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Shane Mosley, Erislandy Lara, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Sergey Kovalev, Jermell Charlo, Billy Joe Saunders.

He was the first boxer in history to become an undisputed super-middleweight champion.

German boxing legend, Sven “The Phantom” Ottke had a staggering 308 amateur bouts, winning 256 of them, despite starting boxing late at 14. He was a three-time Olympian and won multiple German national titles over multiple weights.

As a pro, Ottke won the IBF World super-middleweight title in just his 13th fight in 1999, and retained it for the rest of his career, which ended in 2004. He defended the IBF 168lbs strap 21 times, a record tied with Joe Calzaghe, as well as unifying the WBA belt and defending the belt four times.