Top 10 African American Boxers Since 1990

Who Were the Best African American Boxers in the Last 20 Years?

1. Roy Jones Jr. - 54 (40) - 5 *Still active- The only man that the number 2 fighter on this list will admit having lost to is the guy ahead of him, Roy Jones Jr. He didn't legitimately lose a fight for his first 50 contests, excluding a silly DQ loss that was sandwiched between years of absolute domination in which he hardly lost rounds, let alone fights. Early wins over Bernard Hopkins and James Toney in his prime at super middleweight were followed with years of light heavyweight ascendancy and a title winning effort against John Ruiz at heavyweight. While the light of Hopkins shines brighter today, Jones gets the number 1 spot on the list for a decade of sheer magnificence during which he was truly unbeatable, and the head-to-head victory.

2. Bernard Hopkins - 49 (32) - 5 - 1 *Still active- The Executioner is still fighting on, over 20 years removed from his first professional fight, now at the age of 44. He holds the middleweight record for title defenses with 20, and eventually held all four of the major sanctioning body belts. At middleweight he piled up wins over the likes of Felix Trinidad, Glen Johnson, William Joppy and Oscar De La Hoya. He moved to light heavyweight late in his career and added to his resume with wins over Kelly Pavlik, Winky Wright and Antonio Tarver.

3. Pernell Whitaker - 40 (17) - 4 - 1 - Jumping into his career in 1989, we get a look at Sweat Pea while he was coming into his own as a dominant lightweight champion. After winning a strap from Greg Haugen, he avenged a controversial loss against Jose Luis Ramirez and defended his belt eight times, unifying it along the way. After a brief stop at junior welterweight to win a title, Whitaker won a welterweight title against Buddy McGirt and subsequently got robbed of a win against Julio Cesar Chavez. He would defend his welterweight crown seven times, winning a junior middleweight title for good measure, before losing to Oscar de La Hoya in 1997. A defensive master if there ever was one, Whitaker could make anybody miss.