10 Best Heavyweight Boxers in the World (April 2026)

Following Tyson Fury’s return to action against Arslanbek Makhmudov, we tweaked our overall world Heavyweight rankings – where does Fury rank in our updated list?

We’ve adjusted our parameters a bit – we’ll only be including fighters who have won a fight in the Heavyweight division over the last two years.

Please note – we weren’t able to find images of all the fighters on this list. Where pictures were unavailable, we used a generic placeholder image.

10. Richard Riakpohre

Richard Riakpohre surges into the top ten with a brilliant win over the underrated Jeamie TKV to claim the British Heavyweight title on the Tyson Fury vs Arslanbek Makhmudov undercard.

Some audiences (including ourselves) thought TKV would frustrate and out-point Riakpohre – instead, the lifelong Crystal Palace fan bowled him over in five one-sided rounds.

After spending years pain-stakingly draining himself to make the Cruiserweight limit, Riakpohre has looked like a completely different fighter in the Heavyweight ranks. This was only his third fight at Heavyweight, so we can’t place him much higher, but don’t overlook the ‘Midnight Train’ going forwards.

9. Lawrence Okolie

Lawrence Okolie has also only had three fights at Heavyweight – he and Riakpohre are on a very similar level at the moment. As such, it seems inevitable that they will come head-to-head at some point, assuming Okolie has enough about him to overcome former Olympic gold medalist Tony Yoka on April 25.

Once a gangly, clinch-heavy Cruiswerweight, Okolie looks much more comfortable as a Heavyweight. He weighed in at 271lbs in his most recent fight against Ebenezer Tetteh – how he ever made the 205lb limit is beyond us.

His most impressive win at Heavyweight was his shut-out victory against Kevin Lerena. Despite allegedly entering the contest with an injured bicep, he didn’t give the South African a chance to do anything in a wide decision victory.

8. Murat Gassiev

Murat Gassiev is the third fighter in a row on our list to have begun life as a Cruiserweight. However, unlike the previous two, one could argue that Gassiev has not taken to the Heavyweight division quite so comfortably.

Gassiev was a monster at Cruiserweight, knocking out the likes of Yuniel Dorticos and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk – it was a surprise, then, to see him outfoxed by Otto Wallin in 2023.

Nevertheless, Gassiev has bounced back since then. Most notably, he came from behind to knock out Kubrat Pulev with a vicious left hook, winning the WBA Regular title in the process. He might look slow and turgid at times, but Gassiev’s lead hook is amongst the powerful punches in the entire division.