Profiles and Statistics Archive For Leading Fighters and Boxers

Boxing, UFC and MMA, unlike many other sports, do not have fixed events or contestants.  Therefore on this page you will find profiles and statistics for boxers and fighters that have no immanent major up coming fight.

You can find profiles and stats for the latest big bouts on our Feature Fight page.  For Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury fights see our dedicated pages.

Fighter and Boxer Profiles

Deontay Wilder Profile

Deontay Leshun Wilder was born on the 22nd of October 1985 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He started boxing 20 years later, almost to the day, when he attended the Skyy Boxing Gym in Northport Alabama and began working with the trainer Jay Deas. Within two years he’d started making a name for himself, winning both the US Championships and the National Golden Gloves at a weight of 201 pounds.

He entered Olympic trials and beat fighters that he’d already beaten during the Golden Gloves series, winning the trials in just 21 bouts and proving he was a fighter with real potential. He defeated both the Algerian Abdelaziz Toulbini and the Moroccan Mohamed Arjaoui before losing to the Italian Clemente Russo to earn himself a Bronze medal in the Heavyweight discipline. It was, of course, the Olympics that saw Anthony Joshua make his name 4 years later when he won Gold as a super heavyweight.

Wilder turned professional in 2008 as a 23-year-old, knocking out Ethan Cox in the second round of his first ever professional bout at the Vanderbilt University Memorial Gymnasium in Tennessee. He fought 7 times in 2009 and won all his bouts in the first round. He achieved a 25-fight unbeaten streak up to October of 2012, winning his first title in December that year when he knocked out 37-year-old Kelvin Prince who had hitherto been unbeaten.

In the years that followed Wilder began to enhance his reputation as he made his way through the boxing ranks, making his UK debut when he defeated previous Olympic Gold medallist Audley Harrison after just over a minute on the undercard for the Amir Khan versus Julio Díaz fight in Sheffield. Harrison retired four days later. The following month Frank Warren confirmed that Wilder would headline the card at Wembley Arena against Dereck Chisora, but the fight fell through when Wilder was arrested in Las Vegas for domestic abuse.

His first shot at the WBC heavyweight title came in March 2014 when he beat Malik Scott and made himself the mandatory challenger to Bermane Stiverne. The pair fought in January of 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Vegas where Wilder won by unanimous decision. He would go on to defeat Eric Molina, Johann Duhaupas and Artur Szpilka, with Tyson Fury calling Wilder out at the end of the latter fight.

Fury got his wish in 2018, when the pair went head-to-head at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It ended up being declared a draw after 12 rounds, with the Mexican judge calling it 115-111 to Wilder, the Canadian one giving it to Fury by 114-112 and the British judge saying it was a 113-113 draw. The crowd booed the decision, feeling that Fury had taken the WBC title. In May of the following year he confirmed his position as the WBC champion by knocking out Dominic Breazeale in the first round, then in November he knocked Luis Ortiz out in their re-match in the seventh round.

Shortly after the Ortiz fight Wilder agreed a rematch with Tyson Fury for February 2020.  When the fight came around both men had bulked up weighing in heavier but it was Fury who showed greater focus knocking down the American in the third and the fifth before The Bronze Bomber finally succumbed by technical knock-out in the seventh when his corner threw in the towel.

With Wilder holding the belt at the time of the second bout it was built into the contract that should he lose, which he did, that he could force a third fight.  The bout couldn’t happen easily, though, with the 2020 corona virus pandemic preventing the fight from happening in the same year.  In the meantime Fury grew weary and arranged to fight Anthony Joshua, requiring Wilder to go to the court of arbitration who ruled that Fury had to fight Wilder again.

That fight went Vegas again on 9th October 2021 and this time Fury won by knocking out Wilder in the 11th round to finally end the Fury-Wilder merry-go-round.  For his next fight over a year later in October 2022 Wilder had to settle for a lower opponent in Robert Helenius and it was barely a fight at all with Wilder winning by knockout in the first round in New York.

When it was announced that his next fight in the first quarter of 2024 would be against AJ this made many fans happy as they are sick of seeing poor match-ups.  With Wilder having 42 knockouts from 43 wins and AJ 23 from 26 this promises to be the fight of the big hitters and is certainly a must watch.

Derek Chisora Profile

Born in Mbare, Zimbabwe, in 1983, Dereck Chisora is the WBA International champion. He turned professional in 2007, earning a TKO against István Kecskés in his first bout. Three more wins followed until he faced Sam Sexton, a British heavyweight prospect well-respected in the industry. Chisora won it in the final round and followed up with more wins to take him to an 8-0 career record by the end of 2008.

In 2009 Chisora earned himself a four month suspension when he bit Paul Butlin during their fight, subsequently missing out on the opportunity to fight Danny Williams for the British title. He eventually did fight Williams in 2010, stopping him in the second round.

He then knocked out Sam Sexton in order to become the Commonwealth heavyweight champion. He was supposed to fight IBF, IBO, WBO, Lineal and Ring Magazine heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, but the Ukrainian pulled out after tearing an abdominal muscle.

In 2011 Chisora was asked to defend his titles against an upcoming boxer called Tyson Fury. It was a well-matched battle, given both men had 14-0 records, with Fury winning on unanimous decision. As with Whyte, Chisora also took on Robert Helenius but lost by split decision.

Eventually he did fight a Klitschko, but it was Wladimir’s brother Vitali that the Ukrainian won by unanimous decision. His behaviour before and after the fight saw the British Boxing Board of Control withdraw his licence and the World Boxing Council giving him an indefinite suspension.

He regained his licence a year later, but in the meantime fought David Haye with a license from another country. In the wake of that match he fought numerous times, including a rematch with Tyson Fury that he lost. After that he had a number of bouts, including the first one with Whyte that he lost by split decision before going on to knock out Carlos Takam in July 2018 to earn the WBA International title.  Derek also lost the rematch against Whyte by KO in the eleventh round.

Under new trainer Dave Coldwell he went to win comfortable on points against Senad Gashi before ruthlessly dispatching Artur Szpilka by knockout in the second.  A fight with Parker didn’t go through due to illness and so Chisora instead defeated David Price but then took on future heavyweight champion Usyk and lost by unanimous decision in October 2020.

The Parker fight finally materialised in 2021 and Parker edged it with a split-decision in an evenly contested bout.  This resulted in a second fight 6 months later that Parker dominated, knocking down DC three times and winning on unanimous decision.   He then went on to fight Pulev for a second time in 2022.  He had lost his first match in 2016 that scuppered his attempt to face AJ for the titles he held back then.  He made no mistake this time around winning by split decision.

Despite saying he would retire after that fight Chisora was tempted back by another fighter who also said he had retired, Tyson Fury, who he faced twice before losing both times.  The trilogy fight was a surprise as most were expecting Fury to face AJ but that didn’t come to pass.  The fight is largely about another pay-off for both men who have little left to prove but it will still undoubtably be a good fight to watch and Tyson will probably win.  Still the WBC belt is on the line.

The second fight against Fury was seen as ‘The Right To Fight’ bout for a chance to face Wladimir Klitschko, which Fury duly did, winning his right to face Klitschko.  He won that fight and the belts and that started the serious part of Tyson’s career.  It is possible the winner of this trilogy fight will now earn the ‘right to fight’ Usyk.

Robert Helenius Profile

Robert Helenius, or The Nordic Nightmare as he is also known, was born in Stockholm in Sweden in 1984 (making him 39) and is both Swedish and Finnish by nationality, although he represents Finland in boxing.  He has been around the block a few times and is six years older than AJ, so he isn’t just some randomer that has been subbed in at late notice.

With 36 professional fights to date, eight more than AJ, and with only four loses in that time (compared to AJ’s three) on paper at least the fight doesn’t seem too much of a mismatch.  When you dig into the opponents both have faced, however, it is clear to see it would take a significant upset for Helenius to beat AJ.

Indeed, one of The Nordic Nightmare’s four loses came back in 2017 when he announced at late notice he would fight Dillian Whyte.  Whyte controlled the fight and won by unanimous decision.  Later Helenius said that because the fight was announced at late notice he had been unable to properly prepare and that he knew the risks but needed the money.  That has many parallels with what is happening in this fight with AJ.

Helenius became European Champion back in 2011 beating Derek Chisora, probably his biggest win of his career.  Following a break he came back in 2015 but despite winning most of his fights when he came up against Whyte and more recently Deontay Wilder there was a gulf in class.  His last fight in October 2022 against Wilder ended in a first round knockout.

Given AJ is known for his early knockouts this fight could be a short one indeed.  Robert is regarded as quite a slow and sluggish boxer but he still finds ways to beat most of his opponents so if AJ does let him into the fight anything could happen.

Dillian Whyte

Born in Port Antonio, Jamaica, in 1988, the heavyweight boxer was also a champion kick-boxer and a mixed martial arts fighter. Fighting out of Brixton, South London, the Bodysnatcher beat Anthony Joshua as an amateur boxer in his first fight back in 2009. In his professional debut he beat Tayar Mehmed by a 40-36 decision in the fourth round.

Whyte continued to take on journeymen boxers such as Remigijus Ziausys and Hastings Rasani, earning a name for himself until he was banned for testing positive over the illegal stimulant Methylhexaneamine in 2012.

He was ruled out of boxing for two years, cleared to return in October of 2014 and fighting Ante Verunica the following month. Some mildly testing fights followed until he went up against his old foe Anthony Joshua in September of 2015, losing by knockout.

He ended up having shoulder surgery in the weeks after the fight, returning gradually to the ring before a major test against Derek Chisora occurred on the undercard of the Joshua v Molina match. The pair had spent the year feuding on social media, leading to a bitter encounter that Whyte won thanks to two judges scoring it 115–113 and 115–114 in his favour and one giving it to Chisora 115–114.

In the two years that followed, Whyte became the WBC Silver heavyweight by beating Robert Helenius, then defended it by defeating Lucas Browne. Confusion followed over who Whyte would go up against next before it was finally confirmed that he would take on former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. Both boxers hit the deck during the fight, but Whyte won by unanimous decision, despite many in the media giving the bout to Parker.

In 2018 Whyte also dispatched Chisora again by KO and in 2019 he defeated both Rivas and Wach, both by unanimous decision.  He then took on Povetkin in a match-up rearranged ton August 2020 due to the corona virus induced sport shutdown.  Whyte knocked down Povetkin in the 4th but having got back up Povetkin then won by TKO in the 5th.

The rematch against Povetkin came just 5 months after the first fight, feelings were still raw and Whyte avenged his first loss by beating the Russian in Gibraltar with a TKO in the 4th round.  This meant Whyte regained the WBC interim heavyweight title and when Fury couldn’t get AJ to stand aside he became the mandatory challenger for the belt.

Whyte had not fought for over a year by the time the bout came around but that wasn’t really the deciding factor in his sixth round knockout in front of a record Wembley crowd.  Whyte tried to mix it up and get in Fury’s face but as Fury said afterwards you can’t wrestle with someone built like a t-rex.  Whyte had plenty of endeavour but simply did not have the stature to lay a mark on Tyson and in the 6th that showed as Fury dummied him before landing that thunderous upper-cut that saw Whyte lose by knockout.  The step up was frankly too big for him.

In his last fight Whyte routinely dispatched Franklin, AJ’s previous opponent, by majority decision at Wembley.  A long time has passed since he last took on Joshua and while many do not expect him to win he is certainly still in the game.

Amir Khan

Born on the eight of December 1984, Amir Khan was a silver medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics, becoming the youngest British fighter to win a medal at the time. He then went on to become one of the youngest ever British professional world champions, which is a fate that he achieved at the age of 22. ESPN named him the ‘prospect of the year’ in 2007, which is no small accomplishment for the Bolton-born lad from a Punjabi-Rajput family. He began boxing competitively at the age of 11winning three school titles.

It was Khan’s performance at the 1st AIBA European 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv that saw him begin to earn a reputation for himself, as well as earning a place in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Nearly eight million people watched those Olympic bouts, in which he eventually lost the final to Cuban fighter Mario Kindelán. As an amateur, his highlights included beating Craig Watson in the ABA Championship and earning revenge over Kindelán before turning professional.

The move to become a pro began in July of 2005 when he fought David Bailey, attracting 4.4 million viewers to ITV and giving the network its best Saturday night viewers of the month. Within a year, Khan’s viewership had increased to more than six million on average, with boxing fans attracted by his exciting style and arrogance in the ring. He became the Commonwealth Lightweight Champion in 2007 and defended the title at the start of the following year. The level of fighter he went up against increased in the years that followed.

In 2009, Khan moved up to light-welterweight and defeated Andreas Kotelnik to earn the WBA light-welterweight title. He defended his title several times and eventually moved up to welterweight, beating Julio Diaz by unanimous decision. He moved to middleweight in 2016, losing to Canelo Álvarez in his debut fight at the new weight, seeing him drop back down to welterweight. He has enjoyed numerous fights at this level since then, with his most recent being a technical knockout win over former IBF featherweight Billy Dib.

Outside of being a boxer, Khan is a philanthropist and founded the Amir Khan Foundation as a charitable organisation. It provides water wells across Asia and Africa, as well as other projects aimed at helping sick children. He has long supporters charitable efforts, including raising money for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. He is also an ambassador for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Bizarrely, he endorsed a Conservative candidate at the 2019 elections for the Walsall South seat.

Kell Brook

Ezekiel “Kell” Brook was born in Sheffield on the third of May 1986. He took on his first amateur bout when he was 12-years-old, winning 31 of his 36 fights during his amateur career. During that time, he won two Amateur Boxing Association of England titles as well as the same number of titles for the National Association of Boys Clubs. Naseem Hamed was an early inspiration for Brook, with both of the fighters trained by Brendan Ingle at the same gym. He enjoyed his first professional fight in September of 2004.

By June of 2008, Brook had notched up a career of 16-0 amateur wins, earning him a tilt at the British welterweight title. He enjoyed a seventh-round technical knockout of Barrie Jones, taking the title off the Welshman, defending it against former champion Kevin McIntyre in November of that year. By November of 2009, Brook had been impressive enough to be named the Young British Boxer of the Year by the Boxing Writers’ Club. He followed that up with a different kind of victory, beating Krzysztof Bienias to the WBO Inter-Continental title.

Brook enjoyed numerous different wins in the years that followed, earning his 27th unbeaten win by defeating Ricky Hatton’s brother Matthew. That saw him add the IBF International welterweight title to his list of achievements. In 2014, Brook beat Shawn Porter to become the IBF welterweight champion courtesy of a majority decision. It was at that point that he called out Amir Khan, saying that he wanted an all-British bout, but it never materialised. He did, however, defend his title twice in two months the following year.

A series of other wins and title defences followed, with Brook eventually moving up to fight in the middleweight division. That came against Gennady Golovkin, though it wasn’t for a title as the WBA decided that the fact that Brook had never thought at the weight level meant that they couldn’t support it. He traded blows well with Golovkin in the early rounds but suffered damage to his eye socket, causing his trainer to throw in the towel. That led to the first defeat of his professional career and a decision to drop back down to welterweight.

In the years that followed, Brook fought some fights at light-middleweight before returning to welterweight in 2020. During his life, Brook has been involved in two stabbing incidents. The first was in 2007 and the second in 2014 in what he described as an unprovoked attack. That took place in Tenerife when he was there with his pregnant wife, with Brook losing ‘a lot of blood’. The attack came a month after he’d defeated Shawn Porter to become the world champion, with Brook declaring that he was ‘devastated’ by it.

Dillian Whyte

Born in Port Antonio, Jamaica, in 1988, the heavyweight boxer was also a champion kick-boxer and a mixed martial arts fighter. Fighting out of Brixton, South London, the Bodysnatcher beat Anthony Joshua as an amateur boxer in his first fight back in 2009. In his professional debut he beat Tayar Mehmed by a 40-36 decision in the fourth round.

Whyte continued to take on journeymen boxers such as Remigijus Ziausys and Hastings Rasani, earning a name for himself until he was banned for testing positive over the illegal stimulant Methylhexaneamine in 2012.

He was ruled out of boxing for two years, cleared to return in October of 2014 and fighting Ante Verunica the following month. Some mildly testing fights followed until he went up against his old foe Anthony Joshua in September of 2015, losing by knockout.

He ended up having shoulder surgery in the weeks after the fight, returning gradually to the ring before a major test against Derek Chisora occurred on the undercard of the Joshua v Molina match. The pair had spent the year feuding on social media, leading to a bitter encounter that Whyte won thanks to two judges scoring it 115–113 and 115–114 in his favour and one giving it to Chisora 115–114.

In the two years that followed, Whyte became the WBC Silver heavyweight by beating Robert Helenius, then defended it by defeating Lucas Browne. Confusion followed over who Whyte would go up against next before it was finally confirmed that he would take on former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. Both boxers hit the deck during the fight, but Whyte won by unanimous decision, despite many in the media giving the bout to Parker.

In 2018 Whyte also dispatched Chisora again by KO and in 2019 he defeated both Rivas and Wach, both by unanimous decision.  He then took on Povetkin in a match-up rearranged ton August 2020 due to the corona virus induced sport shutdown.  Whyte knocked down Povetkin in the 4th but having got back up Povetkin then won by TKO in the 5th.

The rematch against Povetkin came just 5 months after the first fight, feelings were still raw and Whyte avenged his first loss by beating the Russian in Gibraltar with a TKO in the 4th round.  This meant Whyte regained the WBC interim heavyweight title and when Fury couldn’t get AJ to stand aside he became the mandatory challenger for the belt.

Whyte had not fought for over a year by the time the bout came around but that wasn’t really the deciding factor in his sixth round knockout in front of a record Wembley crowd.  Whyte tried to mix it up and get in Fury’s face but as Fury said afterwards you can’t wrestle with someone built like a t-rex.  Whyte had plenty of endeavour but simply did not have the stature to lay a mark on Tyson and in the 6th that showed as Fury dummied him before landing that thunderous upper-cut that saw Whyte lose by knockout.  The step up was frankly too big for him.

Billy Joe Saunders

Born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire on the 30th of August 1989, Billy Joe Saunders grew up as part of a Romanichal travelling community. Boxing runs in Saunders’ blood, given that his great-grandad, Absolom Beeney, was a famous bare-knuckle boxer. A friend and training partner of Tyson Fury, Saunders’ amateur career saw him win his first 49 fights at the senior level to earn a sterling reputation.

He qualified for the Summer Olympic Games that were hosted in Beijing, defeating Adem Kılıççı in the first round before losing out to Carlos Banteux in the second. After that he ended up being suspended from boxing because of ‘lewd behaviour’ towards a woman when at a training camp in France. He made his professional debut in February of 2009 when he fought against Attila Molnar at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

The referee stopped the fight in the second round after a blistering opening from Saunders, which would prove to be something of a calling card for his career. His seventh professional fight saw him win the Commonwealth Middleweight Championship, defending that title against Bradley Price when he went the whole 12 rounds for the first time in his career. A couple of months later and it took hm just two rounds to beat previous undefeated Jarrod Fletcher.

Saunders added the European Middleweight title to his collection when he defeated Emanuele Blandamura before calling out Chris Eubank Junior. All three of his titles were on the line for the bout, with the loser also being eliminated from the chance to fight for the WBO World Middleweight title. Saunders eventually won the fight by split decision, earning the Lonsdale Belt outright as a result.

Wins against Andy Lee for the WBO Middleweight belt and then against Artur Akavov as he defended his title set up a fight with Willie Monroe Jr., who Saunders defeated by unanimous decision. He then beat David Lemieux on points before eventually testing positive for a banned substance and giving up his WBO Middleweight title as a result. He returned to action in December of 2018, defeating Charles Adamu in four rounds.

Saunders’ ban was lifted in January of 2019, at which point his promoter announced that he would be moving up to super-middleweight. In his first fight at the weight he defeated Shefat Isufi for the WBO Super-Middleweight title, successfully defending it against Marcelo Esteban Coceres. His boxing has been marred by controversy over the years, including in 2020 when he filmed a video teach men ‘how to hit female partners when in isolation’.

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez

His nickname of ‘Canelo’ translates to ‘cinnamon’ and it’s true that he doesn’t look stereotypically Mexican thanks to his red hair and pasty skin, yet Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán, better known as Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1990.

Known as one of the world’s best counterpunchers and an excellent body puncher, Alvarez began his boxing career after watching his brother Rigoberto make his professional debut. Remarkably, he is the youngest of 8 children and all 6 of his brothers also became professional boxers.

He won silver at the Junior Mexican National Championships in 2004, becoming the Junior Mexican National Boxing Champion as a 15-year-old the year after. Unable to find amateur opponents for him in the wake of his championship win, his father and son training team of Chepo and Eddy Reynoso encouraged him to turn professional.

He knocked out all but 2 of the first 13 opponents that he faced in the year and a half or so after turning pro. During his career his weight has fluctuated enough to mean that he’s fought as a welterweight, a light middleweight, a middleweight and a super middleweight.

It was during his time as light middleweight that he suffered the only loss of his career to date, though there’s no shame in losing out to Floyd Mayweather Jr. who never lost a fight. His career has progress along the lines that you would expect for a boxer of his talent, beating Julio César Chávez Jr. by unanimous decision in May of 2017 to set up a fight with Gennady Golovkin. That ended in a split draw decision that was ridiculed in some quarters because it was felt that Golovkin had narrowly won it.

It set up a rematch, though, which took place in September of 2018. This time Álvarez won on a majority decision, though it was again not without controversy and the media felt it had been Golovkin’s fight.

Canello moved up to Super-Middleweight in October 2018 when he took in Rocky Fielding and defeated him by TKO to win the WBA belt.  He then briefly dropped back to Light Middleweight in May 2019 to defend his titles in the division and went on win that unification bout against Daniel Jacobs by unanimous decision.

Like a yo-yo he then jumped all the way up to light-heavyweight in November 2019 to defeat Sergey Kovalev in Las Vegas winning the WBO belt for that division.  Since then Saul has settled back into super-middleweight, which started by defeated Callum Smith in Texas by unanimous decision to take the vacant WBA and WBC titles.  He followed this up defeating mandatory WBC challenger Avni Yıldırım by TKO in January 2021 to set up the supper-middleweight unification fight against Billy Joe Saunders.

Kubrat Pulev Profile

Anthony Joshua is well-known when it comes to British boxing fans, but perhaps not as much is known about Kubrat Pulev. Here’s some information about him to help inform you of what might happen when the pair meet.

Kubrat Venkov Pulev was born on the 4th of May 1981 in Sofia, the capital city of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria. Nicknamed Kobrata, which translates as ‘The Cobra’, he was twice the European heavyweight title holder between 2012 and 2016. He also won the Gold medal during the 2008 European Championships.

Whilst obviously no slouch, at 38 years of age there are plenty who think that the Bulgarian’s better days are behind him. He’ll be out to prove them wrong, which is something that he’s done throughout his career. He won the Strandzha Cup in Bulgaria in 2002, beating the world champion Odlanier Solís in the process. He then lost to him in the World Championships the year after.

It was the start of what has been a somewhat topsy-turvy career, with his professional life following on in much the same way as things had when he was an amateur. He turned pro in September of 2009 when he was 28, defeating Florian Benche by TKO in the second round of their bout. Three more fights in three months cemented his position as a pro.

He became the number one IBF heavyweight title contender in 2013, eventually leading to a fight against Wladimir Klitschko in November of that year. Whilst he gave him a spirited fight, Klitschko knocked Pulev down three times on the way to a knockout in round five. He took 11 months out after the fight before retiring to fight Maurice Harris in December of 2015.

A member of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Pulev has a brother who is also a boxer. Despite being in a relationship with Bulgarian singer Andrea for more than a decade, Pulev lost his boxing licence after forcibly kissing a female reporter during an interview. His licence was only reinstated after he completed a sexual harassment prevention class.

Luis Ortiz

The Real King Kong was born on the 29th of March 1979 in Camaguëy, Cuba. He boxed for the Cuban national team as an amateur, winning the the like of the Gold medal in 2006 and the White Ribbon in 2008, but he struggled to truly make a name for himself at the highest level. He didn’t turn professional until he was 30, beating American Lamar Davis in the first round. He went on to fight a number of times during his early career, earning himself a decent reputation but becoming known as something of a journeyman.

Ortiz was given his first shot at the world title in 2014 when he took on Lateef Kayode for the vacated WBA Interim heavyweight title. He won the fight in the first round, but he tested positive for a banned substance after the fight and was suspended. After returning from his suspension he took on Argentine Matias Ariel Vidondo in another interim fight, winning in the third round and finally gaining his title. He took on Bryant Jennings in towards the end of 2015 and winning the bout in the the seventh to retain his title. He also defeated Tony Thompson in 2016 before a series of cancelled defences of his title.

He signed a deal with Matchroom in October of 2016 but in September of the following year he failed a drugs test, being given a one year suspension as a result. His first big fight upon returning was against Deontay Wilder, who he took on in March of 2018. Wilder knocked Ortiz out in the tenth, but Ortiz had fought well enough to give Wilder some scares. He called Ortiz ‘crafty’ after the fight, and the fact that it peaked at 1.2 million viewers on Showtime meant a rematch was always a possibility. Since then he’s fought several times and the defeat to Wilder remains the only loss of his 34-bout career.

Andrés Ponce Ruiz Jr Profile

Born in Imperial Valley in the American state of California on the 11th of September 1989, the American-born Mexican trained under Cuban Fernando Ferrer when he was an amateur, his record was 105-5 as he won two Mexican National Junior Olympics Gold medals as well as the World Ringside Heavyweight Championship.

He turned professional in 2009, losing to Miguel Ramirez in a 4-round battle as a 19-year-old. He bounced straight back, however, defeating Ross Brantley three months later in the same venue in Mexico. His American debut came in 2010 when he fought Luke Vaughn in Texas and knocked him out in the first round. He didn’t fight over eight rounds until 2012 when he defeated Homero Fonseca on points, but his first fight for anything of note came about the following year when he claimed the WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight belt after forcing the stoppage out of Joe Hanks in the fourth round.

He was taken all the way the tenth round for the first time in his career when he fought Siarhei Liakhovich, the former WBO champion, in 2014, winning the bout on points. 2016 was a big year of his professional career to date, winning two fights in May and July to earn himself a shot at the WBO heavyweight title with a fight against Joseph Parker. His aim to become the first heavyweight champion of Mexican descent fell short when the judges ruled that Parker had won on points, but it was a controversial decision and the CompuBox stats suggestion Ruiz Jr had landed 26% of his punches compared to the 21% landed by Parker.

Following a late call to replace Miller Ruiz achieved a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a crack at AJ’s IBF, WBA, WBO, IBO titles.  Despite being priced at over 30/1 and having been written off as a stepping stone, the big man shocked the world by knowing out Joshua in the 7th round to become world champion, the first ever Mexican to do so.  Right now many will see that as a one-off, but should he go on to beat Joshua again in the re-match then people will have to take him seriously as the best boxer on the planet.

Alexander Povetkin

Born in Kursk, Russia in September of 1979, Vladimirovich “Sasha” Povetkin was an amateur kickboxer in his early years. This included winning the World Junior Championship in 1997, the World title two years later and then winning a professional European title in 2000. That was the same year that he won his first boxing title in the Russian Championships when he was 21.

It was the start of numerous amateur titles that he would go on to win, culminating in a Gold medal as a super-heavyweight at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He finished his amateur career with a record of 125 – 7, having avenged all of the losses that he suffered. He took a year off after the Summer Olympics, turning pro in 2005 and signing with the promotors Sauerland Events because they’d allow him to train in Russia.

His professional debut came in June of 2005 when he achieved a TKO against Muhammad Ali Durmaz. Later that year he Knocked Out Cerrone Fox and did the same to John Castle, putting two more wins under his belt before the year was out. More fights followed over the next couple of years, including against some experienced and talented boxers.

The biggest fight of his career came when he took on Ruslan Chagaev for the right to become the ‘Regular Champion’ by the WBA at a time when Wladimir Klitschko was considered the ‘Super Champion’. He defeated Chagaev by unanimous decision. In 2013 the Super Champion went up against the Regular Champion, which Klitschko won by unanimous decision.

When Povetkin failed a drugs test in 2017 he was fined $250,000 and banned indefinitely by the World Boxing Council. The ban was lifted in December of that year, with the Russian having fought unsanctioned fights in the meantime. He had a number of other fights before taking on Anthony Joshua for the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles in September of 2019, losing by TKO.

Prior to the Dillian Whyte rematach set for November 2020 Povetkin contracted corona virus and ended up in hospital.  This lead to the bout being postponed.

James DeGale

Born in 1986 in West London, James DeGale was the only British boxer to win a gold medal at the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008. He’d won the bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games and then silver medals at the EU Championships in both 2007 and 2008, so the gold was a natural progression. When he became the IBF world champion in 2015 he became the first boxer to be both a world champion and an Olympic gold medal holder.

In 2008 DeGale signed a deal with the promoter Frank Warren to become a professional boxer at the same time as Frankie Gavin and Billy Joe Saunders. A year later he was rewarded for his sporting prowess thanks to his appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the New Years Honours of 2009. He’d made his professional debut earlier in the year against Vepkhia Tchilaia and won thanks to a points decision. His first major career win came in 2010 when he beat Liverpudlian Paul Smith in his home town to become the British super-middleweight champion.

His first loss as a professional came pretty hot on the heels of his championship win when he lost on points to George Groves, a fighter he has gone up against a number of times as an amateur. Arguably the biggest win of his career came about when Carl Froch vacated the IBF title because of injury and DeGale defeated Andre Dirrell in the resulting title fight. He defended his title three times before needing shoulder surgery and then lost his first first after the operation to Caleb Truax. The following year he gained revenge when he defeated Truax on points in a rematch. He then relinquished his title on the grounds of wanting big purse fights to end his career on in July of 2018.

Chris Eubank Jr

Despite his protestation to the contrary, Chris Eubank Jr is unquestionably best known as the son of the former two-weight champion of the world Chris Eubank. Born in East Sussex in 1989, he was sent to live in the US with his brother Sebastian as a 16-year-old in order to gain dual citizenship and make life easier for him as a sportsman in his later life. He became an amateur boxer in 2007 and was the amateur Golden Gloves Champin of Nevada when he won his sixth amateur bout.

Turning professional after signing with Mick Hennessey in 2011, Eubank Jr has spent most of his career being trained by the same man who trained his father, Ronnie Davies. He was mentored by Chris Eubank senior and within three years of turning pro had racked up 18 wins, 13 by knockout. His first defeat came at the hands of Billy Joe Saunders thanks to a split decision in October of 2014. He bounced back at the end of the year thanks to a TKO win over Dmitry Chudinov, the previously undefeated WBA interim middleweight champion.

Eubank Jr suffered a largely inactive year in 2015 and so signed with Eddie Hearn, the son of his father’s promoter Barry Hearn. The first fight that he had under the Matchroom Sport banner was against Tony Jeter, which he won in the second round. Eubank Jr went on to defeat both Gary O’Sullivan and Nick Blackwell, with the latter ending up in a medically induced coma after the fight. He enjoyed a number of other victories before suffering the second defeat of his career to George Groves in February of 2018.

Manny Pacquiao

Politician, actor, singer, basketball player; Manny Pacquiao’s CV reads like a Hollywood movie script when you look it over. Given that he is the only boxer in the history of the sport to become world champion in 8 different divisions, however, it’s fair to say that that’s the thing that the vast majority of people associate him with. The Boxing Writers Association Of America declared him to be the Fighter of the Decade for the 2000s and ESPN ranked him as the 2nd best pound-for-pound fighter of the previous 25 years in 2016.

It’s not unreasonable to suggest that Adrien Broner will have his work cut out to get anything out of the match then, but might there be something from the Philippine boxer’s history to give him hope? He began life as a light flyweight in 1995, winning on his debut. In fact, he’s fought 69 times to date and won 60 of those bouts, losing just 7 times and having 2 draws in there.

Those 7 losses have been spread out fairly evenly across his career, though he’s lost more often in his last ten matches than the 59 that came before, suggesting that age is finally catching up with him. His wins at this weight came against boxers such as Jessie Vargas, Juan Manuel Márquez and Timothy Bradley, but he’s also lost to both Bradley and Juan Manuel Márquez, plus the much publicised defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Adrien Broner

Broner was just 6-years-old when Pacquiao began his boxing career, meaning that experience is definitely on the Filipino’s side. That being said, he’s held the world champion title in 4 different weight classes, so it would be patronising to suggest that he’s a mug in the world of boxing. The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board announced in 2018 that they consider him to be the 4th best boxer in the world as a light welterweight, whilst 6 years earlier The Ring declared him to be the 5th best active boxer on a pound-for-pound basis.

The big question mark over Broner is whether or not the step up to this weight is too tricky for him. He beat Paulie Malignaggi when winning the WBA welterweight title in 2013 but promptly lost it to Marcos Maidana in the same year. He’s also lost to both Shawn Porter and Mikey Garcia at this level, which is what gives many the feeling that Pacquiao will simply have too much experience for him as a welterweight.

Jarrel Miller Profile

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1988, Jarrell Miller was attacked on the streets at the age of 14 and took up Muay Thai in order to learn how to defend himself. He made his professional debut against Darius Whitson as a 21-year-old in 2009, 2 years after he was a losing finalist in the New York Golden Gloves Heavyweight tournament as an amateur. 2007 was the same year that he enjoyed a breakout performance for the New Jersey Tigers in the World Combat League as a kickboxer.

Whilst kickboxing was where Miller began his fighting career, it was boxing that saw his career develop. After making his professional debut in 2009 he’s gone on to fight 24 times, with just one draw on his record to date. Critics of him would argue that he hasn’t really taken on any of the bigger names in the sport during that time, but he won the interim WBA-NABA heavyweight title in 2016 with a win over Donovan Dennis, followed it up with a WBO-NABO win against Nick Guivas and then defended the titles against Fred Kassi.

The only match he hasn’t won since turning pro was against Joey Dawejko in 2013, with all three judges scoring it 37-37 in a 4 round bout. It’s worth noting that Miller was deducted 2 points for pushing, which might have seen him boasting a 100% record heading into his match with Joshua if he hadn’t done so. He was scheduled to fight Fres Oquendo in November of 2018, with Miller’s people believing that he would have to go down the mandatory challenger route if he wanted to get a fight with Joshua. Oquendo pulled out of the fight, with Bogdan Dinu stepping in to replace him and before getting knocked out in the 4th round.

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez

His nickname of ‘Canelo’ translates to ‘cinnamon’ and it’s true that he doesn’t look stereotypically Mexican thanks to his red hair and pasty skin, yet Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán, better known as Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1990.

Known as one of the world’s best counterpunchers and an excellent body puncher, Alvarez began his boxing career after watching his brother Rigoberto make his professional debut. Remarkably, he is the youngest of 8 children and all 6 of his brothers also became professional boxers.

He won silver at the Junior Mexican National Championships in 2004, becoming the Junior Mexican National Boxing Champion as a 15-year-old the year after. Unable to find amateur opponents for him in the wake of his championship win, his father and son training team of Chepo and Eddy Reynoso encouraged him to turn professional.

He knocked out all but 2 of the first 13 opponents that he faced in the year and a half or so after turning pro. During his career his weight has fluctuated enough to mean that he’s fought as a welterweight, a light middleweight, a middleweight and a super middleweight.

It was during his time as light middleweight that he suffered the only loss of his career to date, though there’s no shame in losing out to Floyd Mayweather Jr. who never lost a fight. His career has progress along the lines that you would expect for a boxer of his talent, beating Julio César Chávez Jr. by unanimous decision in May of 2017 to set up a fight with Gennady Golovkin. That ended in a split draw decision that was ridiculed in some quarters because it was felt that Golovkin had narrowly won it.

It set up a rematch, though, which took place in September of 2018. This time Álvarez won on a majority decision, though it was again not without controversy and the media felt it had been Golovkin’s fight.

Daniel Jacobs

Born in Brooklyn, New York on the 3rd of February 1987, Daniel Jacobs’ rise to the top has been a different journey to that of his Mexican opponent. He fought 137 times as an amateur, losing 7 of them but winning the Junior Olympics National Championship along the way.

He also won the New York Golden Gloves Championships four times before he turned professional. He did that in 2007 when he fought Jose Jesus Hurtado on the Floyd Mayweather Jr. / Ricky Hatton undercard, winning by technical knockout a mere 29 seconds into the fight.

Jacobs’ first high-profile fight came in 2010 when he took on the unbeaten Dmitry Pirog for the then-vacant WBO middleweight title. He was up on the judge’s cards in the 5th round when he was knocked out, seeing him suffer his first career loss.

He bounced back with consecutive victories before dropping out of boxing in the wake of his osteosarcoma diagnosis. He came back with a win over Josh Luteran in October of 2012, following that up with a win over Jarrod Fletcher for the WBA (Regular) middleweight title in 2014.

The most relevant fight when it comes to a look ahead to his battle with Alvarez came in 2017 when he took on Gennady Golovkin for the unified WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, IBO championship. It went all the way to the 12th, which was the first time in Golovkin’s career that that had happened. In the end the judges scored it unanimously in favour of the Kazakhstani.

Jacobs followed it up with wins against Luís Arias and Maciej Sulęcki before taking on Serhiy Derevianchenko in October of last year. He won that too, meaning that the door was opened for this bout with Alvarez.

Tom Schwartz

It is no exaggeration to say that Fury has made an odd choice in his picking of Tom Schwarz, such is the extent to which there’s not a huge amount know about the German boxer. He’s fought 24 times so far in his professional career and won every one of those fights, 16 of them by knockout. He’s only fought outside Germany on 2 occasions, however, doing so in the Czech Republic. None of his fights have been against names that those outside of the German boxing scene would know much about.

Whilst he is ranked second in the world by the WBO, he’s only ninth according to the IBF and isn’t even in the top 15 according to both the WBC and the WBA. He’s 6 foot 5 inches tall, making him 4 inches shorter than Fury but still tall enough to mean he’s in the same category. Indeed, one of Fury’s trainers, Ben Davison, said that the German was chosen because the Gypsy King is keen to fight someone tall, given that Joshua is 6 foot 6 inches, Wilder is 6 foot 7 inches and it’s not useful to continually swap the size of boxer you’re facing.

Fighter and Boxer Key Statistics

Wilder

• Full Name: Deontay Leshun Wilder
• Nickname: The Bronze Bomber
• Nationality: American
• Date of Birth: 22nd October 1985
• Stance: Orthodox
• Weight: Heavyweight
• Height: 6 foot 7 inches
• Reach: 83 inches
• Record: 46 Fights – 43 Wins (42 by KO) – 2 Loss – 1 Draw
• Titles: Former WBC Champion

Chisora:

• Nickname: Del Boy
• Nationality: British
• Born: Zimbabwe
• Date of Birth: 29th December 1983
• Stance: Orthodox
• Weight: Heavyweight
• Height: 6 foot 2 inches (188 cm)
• Reach: 74 inches (188 cm)
• Professional Record To Date: 46 Fights – 33 Wins (23 by KO) – 13 Losses

Helenius

• Full Name: Robert Gabriel Helenius
• Nickname: The Nordic Nightmare
• Nationality: Finnish (born Stockholm, Sweden)
• Date of Birth: 2nd January 1984
• Stance: Orthodox
• Weight: Heavyweight
• Height: 6 foot 6.5 inches
• Reach: 79 inches
• Record: 37 Fights – 34 Wins (21 by KO) – 5 Losses

Whyte

• Full Name: Dillian Whyte
• Nickname: The Body Snatcher
• Nationality: British (Born Jamaica)
• Date of Birth: 11th April 1988
• Stance: Orthodox
• Weight: Heavyweight
• Height: 6 foot 4 inches
• Reach: 78 inches
• Record: 32 Fights – 29 Wins (19 by KO) – 3 Losses

Khan:

• Height: 5 foot 10 inches
• Reach: 71 inches (Orthodox)
• Record: 39 Fights – 34 Wins (21 by KO) – 5 Losses – 0 Draws

Brook:

• Height: 5 foot 9 inches
• Reach: 69.5 inches (Orthodox)
• Record: 42 Fights – 39 Wins (27 by KO) – 3 Losses – 0 Draws

Whyte

• Full Name: Dillian Whyte
• Nickname: The Body Snatcher
• Nationality: British (Born Jamaica)
• Date of Birth: 11th April 1988
• Stance: Orthodox
• Weight: Heavyweight
• Height: 6 foot 4 inches
• Reach: 78 inches
• Record: 31 Fights – 28 Wins (19 by KO) – 3 Losses

Saunders:

• Height: 5 foot 11 inches
• Reach: 71 inches (Southpaw)
• Record: 30 Fights – 30 Wins (14 by KO) – 0 Losses – 0 Draws

Alvarez:

• Height: 5 foot 9 inches
• Reach: 70.5 inches (Orthodox)
• Record: 58 Fights – 55 Wins (37 by KO) – 1 Loss – 2 Draws

Pulev:

• Full Name: Kubrat Venkov Pulev
• Nickname: The Cobra
• Nationality: Bulgarian
• Date of Birth: 4th May 1981
• Stance: Orthodox
• Weight: Heavyweight
• Height: 6 foot 4 inches
• Reach: 80 inches
• Professional Record To Date: 29 fights, 28 wins, 1 loss, 0 draws, 14 knock-outs
• Titles: Former European Heavyweight

Ortiz:

• Height: 6 foot 3 inches
• Reach: 78 inches (Southpaw)
• Record: 34 Fights – 31 Wins (26 by KO) – 1 Loss – 2 No Contest

Andy Ruiz Jr

• Full Name: Andrés Ponce Ruiz Jr
• Nickname: The Destroyer
• Nationality: American
• Date of Birth: 11th September 1989
• Stance: Orthodox
• Weight: Heavyweight
• Height: 6 foot 2 inches
• Reach: 74 inches
• Professional Record To Date: 54 fights, 33 wins, 2 loses, 0 draws, 22 knock-outs
• Titles: Former IBF, WBA, WBO, IBO

DeGale:

• Height: 6 foot 0 inches
• Reach: 74 inches
• Record: 29 Fights – 25 Wins (15 by KO) – 3 Losses

Eubank Jr:

• Height: 5 foot 11 inches
• Reach: 72.5 inches
• Record: 30 Fights – 28 Wins (21 by KO) – 2 Losses

Pacquiao:

• Height: 5 foot 5.5 inches
• Reach: 67 inches
• Record: 70 Fights – 61 Wins (39 by KO) – 7 Losses

Broner:

• Height: 5 foot 6.5 inches
• Reach: 69.5 inches
• Record: 39 Fights – 33 Wins (24 by KO) – 5 Losses

Jarrell Miller:

• Full Name: Jarell King Miller
• Nickname: Big Baby
• Nationality: American
• Date of Birth: 15th July 1988
• Stance: Orthodox
• Weight: Heavyweight
• Height: 6 foot 4 inches
• Reach: 78 inches
• Professional Record To Date: 24 fights, 23 wins, 0 loses, 1 draw, 20 knock-outs
• Titles: WBA-NABA, WBO-NABO

Alvarez:

• Height: 5 foot 9 inches
• Reach: 70.5 inches
• Record: 54 Fights – 51 Wins (35 by KO) – 1 Loss – 2 Draws

Jacobs:

• Height: 5 foot 11.5 inches
• Reach: 73 inches
• Record: 37 Fights – 35 Wins (29 by KO) – 2 Losses

Schwartz:

• Height: 6 foot 5.5 inches
• Reach: ?
• Record: 25 Fights – 24 Wins (16 by KO) – 1 Loss

Povetkin:

• Height: 6 foot 2 inches
• Reach: 75 inches
• Record: 39 Fights – 36 Wins (25 by KO) – 2 Losses – 1 Draw