Top 10 amateur boxers of all time

Of course, the professional ranks generally take the centre stage in the world of boxing – it’s where all the money is, after. Today, however, we’ll be looking at the ten greatest boxers of all time in the amateur ranks. 

We will only be taking accomplishments in amateur boxing into account for this list. As such, some of boxing’s all time greats will inevitably miss out.

For example, while Muhammad Ali was excellent in the amateur ranks and won an Olympic gold medal, he ultimately did not spend as much time in this sector of boxing as the fighters who made our list. 

10. Mark Breland

The only American to make the cut, Mark Breland dominated the amateur welterweight ranks in his younger years. 

He won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics, thoroughly outclassing everyone he fought along the way – he even notched up a first round knockout over Mexican Genaro León (a rarity in the amateur ranks). 

By the time he turned professional, Breland amassed a phenomenal amateur record of 110 wins, 73 knockouts and only one defeat. 

9. Bakhodir Jalolov

Bakhodir Jalolov had a strange amateur career, as he took a brief hiatus to make a foray in the professional ranks before returning to fight in the Olympics in 2024. Nevertheless, his record in the amateurs speaks for itself. 

With back-to-back Olympic gold medals to his name, Jalolov’s inclusion on this list was a no-brainer. On top of this, the Uzbek giant has also won gold medals in the IBA World Championships, the Asian Games and the Asian Amateur Boxing Championships. 

He retired from the amateurs upon winning his second Olympic gold medal. He will now focus on the professional ranks, where he has already amassed a 15-0 record. 

8. Julio Cesar La Cruz

Julio Cesar La Cruz is the first Cuban we will be featuring in our list – and if you know anything about amateur boxing, you already know he won’t be the last.

With two Olympic gold medals to his name, as well as five in the IBA World Championships and four in the Pan American games, La Cruz was always going to land a spot on this list. 

He defeated one of Russia’s top amateurs, Muslim Gadzhimagomedov, by a score of 5-0 in the final of the 2020 Olympics – Gadzhimagomedov has since gone on to win a world title in the professional ranks (albeit a very tenuous one). 

7. Oleg Saitov

Oleg Saitov led an extremely impressive Olympics career, in which he won two gold medals and a bronze medal. 

His only Olympics defeat came against Bakhtiyar Artayev in 2004, who went on to win the Val Barker Trophy – an award handed out to the best pound-for-pound fighter at that year’s games. 

Had it not been for this slight stumble, Saitov may have been featured even higher in this list. An outstanding technician, he is the textbook example of a no-frills amateur fighter. 

6. Mario Kindelan

Mario Kindelan won almost everything there was to win in the amateur game. Two Olympic gold medals, three gold medals in the IBA World Championships and two gold medals in both the Pan American games and the Central American and Caribbean games should tell you everything you need to know. 

Notably, he defeated a young Amir Khan in the final of the 2004 Olympics – after this, Khan became one of Britain’s most well-known fighters in history. 

Khan avenged this defeat the following year, dragging Kindelan out of retirement to do so – but the Cuban’s legacy in the amateur ranks remains intact nonetheless. 

5. Guillermo Rigondeaux

Another fighter to have won two Olympic gold medals, Guillermo Rigondeaux may have won yet more if he didn’t make the decision to defect from Cuba and turn professional in 2007. 

Legendary coach Freddie Roach lauded Rigondeaux as ‘probably the greatest talent I’ve ever seen’ – high praise from such an accomplished trainer. 

Unlike many fighters on this list, Rigondeaux also enjoyed success as a professional boxer. In 2013, he completely outclassed Nonito Donaire to win the WBO Super Bantamweight title. 

4. Vasyl Lomachenko

In 2017, a poll conducted by The Sweet Science declared Vasyl Lomachenko as the greatest amateur boxer of all time – we may not agree with this, but it is easy to see where the voters were coming from. 

Lomachenko’s amateur record is truly unbelievable – he won 396 amateur bouts, only losing once against Albert Selimov. Furthermore, he also avenged this defeat twice. 

The only thing keeping Lomachenko out of the top three is his performance in the Olympics – every fighter above him won a trio of Olympic gold medals, while the Ukrainian only (!) won two. 

3. Laszlo Papp

Laszlo Papp was the original king of the amateur scene. With three consecutive Olympic gold medals to his name, in 1948, 1952 and 1956, few could touch him over the course of three rounds. 

Despite suffering from chronic hand issues, he never let this affect his career. Technically he was brilliant, but he also had extreme punching power as well. 

As a professional, he went undefeated, despite never winning a world title. One of the most underrated boxers in history; we’re very happy to be able to give him his flowers here. 

2. Felix Savon

An enormous puncher with skills to back it up, Felix Savon won everything there was to win the amateur ranks – and he did it several times over. 

It would be easier to list the gold medals that Savon didn’t win – but here we go nonetheless! He won three Olympic gold medals, six IBA gold medals, nine Central America and Caribbean gold medals, three Pan American gold medals, four boxing World CUp gold medals and two Goodwill Games gold medals.

He never turned professional, ending his amateur career with an astonishing record of 362 wins and 21 defeats. 

1. Teofilo Stevenson

Only one fighter can trump Savon’s prowess in the amateur game. Fellow Cuban Teofilo Stevenson, labelled the ‘Communist Ali’, he dominated the amateur ranks concurrently alongside Ali’s reign as the professional heavyweight king. 

Three Olympic gold medals and 14 others in various different competitions, Stevenson overcame some extremely tough opposition with regularity. 

He brought a close to his career in 1988 – like Savon, he also opted to not turn professional (much to the chagrin of Don King). He accumulated a record of 302 wins and 22 defeats, with some historians believing he may have won even more than that. 22 of his wins came by way of walkover – such was the ferocity of his reputation, some fighters dare not even step into the same ring as him.