The 22 Best Boxers of the 1990s

Heavyweight heavy hitters sit beside lighter-weight technicians and a few cult brawlers. Some owned the decade, others only ruled a single night.

1. 1
   Azumah Nelson

   Ghanaian champion who kept winning world titles at featherweight and super featherweight into the 1990s.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Chris Eubank

   Showman British middleweight and super middleweight champion with a long unbeaten run and two memorable Benn fights.
   763pts
3. 3
   Michael Moorer

   Southpaw who won light heavyweight and heavyweight titles and beat Holyfield in 1994 before losing to George Foreman.
   700pts
4. 4
   Shane Mosley

   Lightweight champion from California who won the IBF belt in 1997 and was soon pound-for-pound ranked.
   625pts
5. 5
   George Foreman

   Middle-aged former champion who regained the heavyweight crown in 1994 by knocking out Moorer.
   577pts
6. 6
   Lennox Lewis

   British heavyweight who won the WBC belt in the early 1990s and unified the division against Holyfield in 1999.
   566pts
7. 7
   Mike Tyson

   Former undisputed heavyweight king who returned from prison in 1995 and still drew the biggest crowds of the decade.
   566pts
8. 8
   Bernard Hopkins

   Philadelphia middleweight who won the IBF title in 1995 and began a record run of defenses that lasted into the 2000s.
   500pts
9. 9
   Prince Naseem Hamed

   Flamboyant Sheffield featherweight with startling power who won the WBO title in 1995.
   500pts
10. 10
    Evander Holyfield

    Cruiserweight champion turned heavyweight great who stopped Tyson in 1996 and won a trilogy-defining rivalry with Riddick Bowe.
    500pts
11. 11
    Marco Antonio Barrera

    Mexican technician who dominated the junior featherweight division in the mid-1990s before moving up.
    500pts
12. 12
    Julio César Chávez

    Mexican icon who piled up titles at three weights and drew more than 130,000 fans to Estadio Azteca in 1993.
    423pts
13. 13
    Riddick Bowe

    Undisputed heavyweight champion in 1992 who survived a brutal trilogy with Holyfield.
    423pts
14. 14
    Floyd Mayweather Jr.

    Young Grand Rapids prospect who won the WBC super featherweight title in 1998 on his way to later superstardom.
    423pts
15. 15
    Arturo Gatti

    Crowd-pleasing junior lightweight whose all-action style made him a late-decade cult hero.
    423pts
16. 16
    Oliver McCall

    Heavyweight who stunned Lennox Lewis with a knockout in 1994 to win the WBC title.
    423pts
17. 17
    James Toney

    Thick-skinned stylist who won titles at middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight.
    423pts
18. 18
    Roy Jones Jr.

    Lightning-fast middleweight-to-light-heavyweight talent regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter by the late 1990s.
    333pts
19. 19
    Oscar De La Hoya

    Olympic gold medalist who became the sport's top pay-per-view star by winning titles from super featherweight to welterweight.
    227pts
20. 20
    Félix Trinidad

    Puerto Rican puncher who won the IBF welterweight title in 1993 and defended it for years.
    0pts
21. 21
    Steve Collins

    Irish super middleweight who beat Benn and Eubank in successive fights in the mid-1990s.
    0pts
22. 22
    Nigel Benn

    British super middleweight known as the Dark Destroyer, famed for brawls with Eubank and McClellan.
    0pts

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