Ranking the Best Active Boxers Who Have Won Olympic Medals
Success in amateur boxing at the elite, international level in no definitive guarantee of professional glory. Plenty of Olympic gold medalists have found themselves without the necessary tools to secure the same sort of achievements in the professional ranks.
But many of the top professional fighters in the world do indeed have stellar Olympic resumes. Olympic medalists have gone on to become Hall of Fame pros again and again over the past decades.
There is, in fact, a lot of overlap between this list of Olympic medalists and the majority of current pound-for-pound ratings you will find in the boxing media.
Honorable Mentions
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Yuriorkis Gamboa won gold for Cuba in 2004. Not that long ago, he would have been near the top of this list, and you could make an argument for his inclusion today. He easily out-pointed Hylon Williams last December and still looked like the same sharp, aggressive counterpuncher he's always been, at least at times.
Andre Dirrell won bronze in Athens in 2004. He came back from two knockdowns to give James DeGale a tough, competitive fight in 2015.
Vyacheslav Glazkov took bronze for Ukraine, fighting at super heavyweight in Beijing, in 2008. As a professional, he has benefited from questionable decisions against Malik Scott, Steve Cunningham and even journeyman Derric Rossy.
Last January, Glazkov challenged for an IBF title that never should have been vacant, losing by TKO to Charles Martin due to an injured ankle.
Oleksandr Usyk captured gold at heavyweight for Ukraine in 2012. He could be a cruiserweight version of Vasyl Lomachenko. He's won his first nine professional bouts by stoppage, and in September he will face Krzysztof Glowacki, the top current 200-pound fighter in the world.
Antonio Tarver won bronze at light heavyweight in Atlanta, way back in 1996. I still rank him top 25 in the world at heavyweight, if he still considers himself active.
Odlanier Solis was the gold medal at heavyweight in Athens. He challenged Vitali Klitschko for the WBC heavyweight title in 2011, but the Cuban's career appears to have come to a slamming halt after back-to-back losses against Tony Thompson in March 2014 and February 2015.
10. Anthony Joshua, Gold at Super Heavyweight for Great Britain, 2012
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Anthony Joshua won gold before a hometown crowd in 2012. As a professional, he's 17-0 with 17 KOs.
The IBF says he is a world champion, but the IBF deserves to be laughed at for making this claim on his behalf.
The IBF belt should never have been vacant. Even if it had been vacated for legitimate reasons, Charles Martin was not a remotely deserving challenger for it when he defeated Vyachelav Glazkov by injury default last January.
So knocking out Martin last April does not provide Joshua a credible claim to being heavyweight champion of the world.
However, Joshua does look like he could legitimately climb the heavyweight mountain in the coming few years.
9. Amir Khan, Silver at Lightweight, 2004
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Amir Khan was a teenage wunderkind when he fought in Athens. He has achieved a high level of success as a professional, and I still view him as at, or near, the welterweight top five.
But two stunning knockout losses, to Breidis Prescott at 135 pounds and to Danny Garcia at 140, have prevented him from becoming the sort of megastar many projected him to be when he began his professional career.
Last May, in the biggest fight of his career, Khan showed heart and boxed some good rounds before getting trapped and timed by a much larger Saul Alvarez. He acquitted himself well and will still get big fighters when he moves back down to 147 pounds.
But ultimately, it was another brutal knockout loss for a fighter who is now approaching 30.
8. Deontay Wilder, Bronze at Super Heavyweight for United States, 2008
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Deontay Wilder won bronze in Beijing after what was a brief amateur career. He is a gifted athlete with outstanding reach and explosive punching power. As a professional, he is 37-0, with 36 KOs.
He also holds the WBC version of the world title. If Anthony Joshua's claim to the heavyweight crown is less credible than Cersei's current grasp on the Iron Throne, Wilder's claim is ultimately only a little bit less suspect.
The WBC belt became vacant when Vitali Klitschko retired at the end of 2013. Bermane Stiverne won it by knocking out Chris Arreola in April 2014, then lost it by decision to Wilder in January 2015.
Stiverne's best two wins to date have come against Arreola, a previous world-title challenger whose career topped out with a brief run as a top-10 contender. Wilder's best two wins have come against Stiverne and Arreola.
So Wilder won the WBC belt by defeating an on-the-bubble contender who had won it by defeating another on-the-bubble contender.
To my mind, all this is enough to make Wilder a current top contender. But under older definitions of what it means to be a world champion, Wilder still has fights he needs to win.
7. Alexander Povetkin, Gold at Super Heavyweight for Russia, 2004
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Alexander Povetkin won gold in Athens and was a top heavyweight contender as a professional by 2007, when he defeated an aging Chris Byrd. He has wins over contenders such as Eddie Chambers, Larry Donald, Hasim Rahman and Nicolai Firtha.
The WBA gave him its "regular" world title in 2011, when he defeated Ruslan Chagaev. It did this even though Wladimir Klitschko was the reigning WBA champion.
But just as a person cannot legally get married to a person when they are already married to another person, the WBA cannot just decide to name a world champion when it already has a world champion.
When Povetkin finally faced Klitschko to fight for a true world title in 2013, he lost by wide margins on the cards. But the referee allowed Klitschko to get away with a ridiculous amount of clinching and leaning. It would have been interesting to see that fight play out with credible officiating.
Since that fight, Povetkin has put together the best current four-fight win streak in the division, with KOs of Manuel Charr, Carlos Takam, Mike Perez and Mariusz Wach.
He was supposed to face Deontay Wilder earlier this year, but officials scrapped the bout at the last minute when Povetkin failed a performance-enhancing drugs test. It's a shame, because Povetkin-Wilder was going to answer some important questions in the division.
6. James DeGale, Gold at Middleweight for the United Kingdom, 2008
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In 2015, James DeGale won the vacant IBF super middleweight title by defeating Andre Dirrell. It made him the first English fighter in history to win Olympic gold and then follow it up with a world title in the pros.
There is currently no true, undeniable claim to the world title at 168 pounds. But DeGale is one of three fighters who can make a strong argument for it.
He defeated a solid contender in Dirrell to capture his belt, and he earned his title shot by defeating a string of respectable fringe contenders.
WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack won his title from Anthony Dirrell and defended it successfully against George Grove. WBO champ Gilberto Ramirez ascended by defeating long-reigning champion Arthur Abraham in one-sided fashion.
DeGale, Jack and Ramirez can all wear their title belts with pride. But hopefully some unification bouts will happen soon.
5. Wladimir Klitschko, Gold at Super Heavyweight for Ukraine, 1996
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Wladimir Klitschko won gold in Atlanta nearly a generation ago. By 2000, he had captured the WBO heavyweight belt.
Klitschko looked absolutely horrible last year in dropping his WBA, WBO and IBF belts to Tyson Fury. But he's also been the best heavyweight of the past 15 years, and prior to losing to Fury, he had looked as dominant as ever.
Klitschko is now 40, and it's possible his best days are behind him. But for now, he's still the No. 2 heavyweight in the world and may still return to the top spot. He deserves at least one more bad outing before fans and critics count him out.
4. Guillermo Rigondeaux, Gold at Bantamweight for Cuba, 2000 and 2004
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Guillermo Rigondeaux is among the most decorated amateurs in boxing history. In addition to winning Olympic gold twice, he captured world titles in 2001 and 2005.
Rigondeaux turned professional in 2009 and quickly established himself as one of the top fighters in the world at 122 pounds. In 2012, Rigondeaux faced Nonito Donaire, then viewed as a top-five pound-for-pound fighter. It was Rigo's 12th professional fight.
Rigondeaux handled Donaire with shocking ease, winning a unanimous decision by wide margins. His defensive style has prevented him from catching on at the box office, but he still deserves to be regarded as a top pound-for-pound talent.
3. Vasyl Lomachenko, Gold at Featherweight for Ukraine, 2008 (Lightweight 2012)
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Like Guillermo Rigondeaux, Vasyl Lomachenko ranks among the greatest amateur boxers of all time. He won Olympic gold twice, in two different divisions, and challenged for a world title in just his second professional fight.
Now, after seven fights, Lomachenko is already a two-division world champions as a pro. In June, he turned in a brilliant performance against Roman Martinez, knocking out the veteran champion in Round 5 to capture the WBO super featherweight title.
Lomachenko will probably fight a rematch with Orlando Salido, the only man to defeat him, and then move up to lightweight to chase another belt. It is not unrealistic to think he might develop into a pay-per-view star at 140 pounds.
2. Gennady Golovkin, Silver at Middleweight for Kazakhstan, 2004
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Gennady Golovkin made his pro debut in 2006. At first his career developed at a slow pace, but after signing with K2 as a promoter and landing Abel Sanchez as a trainer, Golovkin's career quickly picked up steam.
In September 2012, he made his U.S. debut by smashing then No. 10-rated middleweight Grzegorz Proksa in five rounds. He has now knocked out 22 straight opponents while unifying the WBC, WBA and IBF middleweight titles.
Golovkin has marched through former champions and top contenders during that streak. He has demolished very good fighters, which is the sign of a great fighter. He has still yet to face a fellow pound-for-pound star, though.
1. Andre Ward, Gold at Light Heavyweight for United States, 2004
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Andre Ward is the last American boxer to win an Olympic gold medal, capturing one in Athens. He has not lost a fight since the first years of his amateur career—when he was in grade school.
As a professional, he has defeated top-level champions with ease. Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler are all potential Hall of Famers, and none of them could give Ward a close fight.
Ward's career stalled from 2012 through 2015 due to legal problems with his promoters. But he's now won two fights in 2016 and is set to meet unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in November for what will be the year's biggest fight.
If Ward can move up and dethrone a dominant champion like Kovalev, he will be the top pound-for-pound boxer on the planet.
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