Top 5 boxers over 40 in the world

George Foreman will go down as one of boxing’s greatest icons – but he isn’t the only boxer to have achieved success as a middle aged man. 

Today, we’ll be looking at five of boxing’s best elder statesmen – anyone still active and over the age of 40 is eligible for inclusion. 

For reference, we will be ranking these fighters based on how good they are in the present day – their past achievement will not be taken into consideration. 

5. Dereck Chisora

Perhaps one of the most popular boxers in the UK today, say what you want about 41 year old Dereck Chisora – he knows how to put bums in seats. 

An old-fashioned fighter in every sense of the word, Chisora is a very fan-friendly fighter with a highly exciting style – furthermore, in his last few bouts, it has been highly effective. 

Most audiences would concur that Chisora’s time at the top is done – but with a rumoured world title bout against Daniel Dubois possibly on the horizon, anything is possible. 

4. Zhilei Zhang

Hard hitting Zhilei Zhang suffered a major setback last time out when he was stopped by Agit Kabayel – but even at age 41, he is still a problem for almost anyone in the division.

Arguably the biggest puncher in the heavyweight division at the moment, Zhang’s main weakness is his limited stamina. Should his opponent survive his early onslaught, they stand a solid chance of winning the fight. 

It remains to be seen if the Chinese giant will fight again, but there are plenty of exciting matchups out there for him. His tilt at securing a world title bout may be over, but that needn’t bring a full stop to his professional career. 

3. Guillermo Rigondeaux

At 44 years of age, Guillermo Rigondeaux is the oldest boxer in this list by far. You wouldn’t think it by looking at him – he still has flashes of brilliance in him. 

Of course, he is far from his brilliant best, when he won back-to-back Olympic gold medals and became a two-weight world champion in the professional ranks. Nevertheless, we still feel that Rigondeaux could prove to be a handful for anyone with his peerless defensive instincts and thunderous punching power. 

Furthermore, it’s important to note that Rigondeaux’s real age has been questioned, given Cuba’s sketchy past of keeping public records on such things. 

2. Erislandy Lara

Erislandy Lara is the only fighter on this list to currently hold a world title (the WBA middleweight title). While he won it against fairly meagre competition and hasn’t faced an elite talent since picking up the strap, it is still a notable achievement for some who is 41 years old. 

Lara is notable for giving a young Canelo Alvarez an extremely tough fight back in 2014. While Canelo escaped with a split decision win, several audiences thought Lara deserved the nod. 

Like Rigondeaux, Lara is also a Cuban defector – as such, his real age could differ from the date of birth on his official profile. 

1. Artur Beterbiev 

Not only does Artur Beterbiev comfortably take the number one spot on this list, he is also the only fighter aged 40 or over to be included in our top ten pound-for-pound rankings. 

For years, Beterbiev was heralded as one of the most feared boxers across all weights, owing to his formidable punching power and indefatigable front-foot approach. 

Beterbiev recently lost his unblemished record in the professional ranks when he was beaten by Dmitri Bivol – but there’s no shame in that, especially so with the possibility of a trilogy fight taking place later this year.