1. WANHENG MEENAYOTHIN (NOVEMBER 2014)
Closing in on six years as the WBC strawweight
champion, the 54-0 Meenayothin has successfully defended his title 12 times.
The Thai was contemplating retirement earlier this summer but opted against it.
2. GARY RUSSELL JNR (MARCH 2015)
American Russell has been the WBC featherweight king for
nearly five-and-a-half years, yet during this period he has only defended his
crown on five occasions – something he has come under criticism for.
3. KNOCKOUT CP FRESHMART (JUNE 2016)
Like his countryman Meenayothin, Freshmart holds a
world championship in the sport’s lightest weight category. He has made eight
successful defences since defeating Byron Rojas for the WBA belt.
4. JERWIN ANCAJAS (SEPTEMBER 2016)
Another reigning champ who has retained his title
eight times is Ancajas. The Filipino super-flyweight won the IBF strap in his
homeland but has since defended it in five different countries across four continents.
5. MIGUEL BERCHELT (JANUARY 2017)
Mexico’s Berchelt dethroned Francisco Vargas to begin
his reign as a super-featherweight ruler. The explosive, all-action WBC titlist
has seen off six challengers to his belt so far, including five inside time.
6. LEO SANTA CRUZ (JANUARY 2017)
A four-weight world champion who is currently in his
second spell as the WBA featherweight supremo, Mexican Santa Cruz has made
three defences since regaining the crown from Carl Frampton.
7. KEN SHIRO (MAY 2017)
Light-flyweight Shiro has been a busy champion since
securing the WBC title with a win over Ganigan Lopez. In total, the Japanese
livewire has turned back the challenge of seven contenders so far.
8. ERROL SPENCE JNR (MAY 2017)
Spence is a unified world titlist at welterweight, as
well as being regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the
planet. The US star has retained his IBF championship on four occasions.
9. DMITRY BIVOL (OCTOBER 2017)
Bivol was upgraded from an Interim belt-holder to the
full WBA light-heavyweight boss following the retirement of previous champion Andre
Ward. The Russian already has six defences to his name.
10. ARTUR BETERBIEV (NOVEMBER 2017)
The second light-heavyweight leader from Russia on
this list, Beterbiev is a unified world champ with three defences of the IBF
title on his record. His knockout ratio stands at a frightening 100 per cent.