That got me thinking..... Russia doesn't have a clear number 1 in Boxing do they ? Pro boxers I mean, not olympic soviets even though feel free to mention some...... Tszyu was born in Russia, he considers himself aussie though , right ? Yuri Arbachakov maybe is the best ????? Great fighter.... but is he the GOAT russian ??
Not much to choose between Arbachakov, Tszyu & Kovalev, imo. I'd have them ahead of Povetkin. Be interesting to see what else Bivol & Beterbiev go on to achieve & appraise their standing a couple of years after they retire. I can't think of any other contenders, though I could be forgetting someone obvious.
I think it has to be Kostya Tszyu - and I doubt that He considers himself Australian. Interesting fact about Russian boxing history is that They still don't have a single two-division world title holder, while many lesser boxing nations had them. Roman Karmazin came the closest probably - having fought to a draw with Sebastian Sylvester at Middleweight.
Best is a hard one to pin down, but the greatest may be Newsboy Brown. He beat Panama Al Brown, Midget Wolgast, Frankie Genaro, Speedy Dado, Baby Arizmendi, Corporal Izzy Schwartz, Eugene Huat, etc. He also drew with Fidel LaBarba twice and lost to quality men like Willie Davies, Frenchy Belanger, Johnny Hill, Emile Pladner, and Rodolfo Casanova.
That's a nice mention, I looked it up, didn't know nothing about him, he was born in Russia but Boxrec lists him as an american.
He did become an American national, yes, and ethnically I don't think he was Russian either. Someone like Beterbiev is a Canadian national and ethnic Chechen, but he was also born in Russia. It depends on how you want to chop it up.
I did a little bit of research and this is what I came up with. I am confused about the #1 spot Sten Suvio though. Not sure if he is Finnish or Russian. If anyone knows? Shout out to #4 Boris Lagutin ! 1. Sten Suvio (1911 - 1988) With an HPI of 43.76, Sten Suvio is the most famous Russian Boxer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages on wikipedia. Sten "Stepa" Suvio (born Schuschin, 25 November 1911 – 19 October 1988) was a Finnish boxer who won the welterweight contest at the 1936 Summer Olympics. 2. Kostya Tszyu With an HPI of 43.42, Kostya Tszyu is the 2nd most famous Russian Boxer. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages. Konstantin Borisovich "Kostya" Tszyu (; Russian: Константин Борисович «Костя» Цзю, IPA: [kənstɐnʲˈtʲin bɐˈrisəvʲɪtɕ ˈkosʲtʲə ˈdzːʲu]; born 19 September 1969) is a Russian Australian former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2005. He held multiple light-welterweight world championships, including the undisputed and lineal titles between 2001 and 2005. 3. Alexander Povetkin (1979 - ) With an HPI of 43.21, Alexander Povetkin is the 3rd most famous Russian Boxer. His biography has been translated into 30 different languages. Alexander Vladimirovich "Sasha" Povetkin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Влади́мирович Пове́ткин; born 2 September 1979) is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2021. He held the WBA (Regular) heavyweight title from 2011 to 2013, the WBC interim heavyweight title from 2020 to 2021, and challenged twice for the unified heavyweight championship. As an amateur, Povetkin won gold medals in the super-heavyweight division at the 2002 and 2004 European Championships, 2003 World Championships, and 2004 Olympics. After turning professional in 2005, he defeated Ruslan Chagaev to claim the vacant WBA (Regular) title in 2011. He challenged unified champion Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, The Ring, and lineal titles in 2013, suffering his first professional career loss by unanimous decision. Povetkin fought unified champion Anthony Joshua for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles in 2018, and suffered a seventh-round technical knockout loss. He was rated in the top ten annual heavyweights by BoxRec from 2006 to 2020, and rated in the top five annual heavyweights from 2007 to 2020, except for 2019. He is a one-time winner of the WBC KO of the Year (2020) and Premier Boxing Champions Knockout of the Year (2020). This content is protected 4. Boris Lagutin (1938 - 2022) With an HPI of 42.25, Boris Lagutin is the 4th most famous Russian Boxer. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages. Boris Nikolayevich Lagutin (Russian: Борис Николаевич Лагутин; 24 June 1938 – 4 September 2022) was a Soviet light middleweight boxer. During his career as a boxer, he won 241 fights and lost only 11. He won medals in three Olympic Games, including two golds, in 1964 and 1968. Lagutin also won at European championships in 1961 and 1963 and at USSR championships in 1959, 1961–64 and 1968. Lagutin was born in Moscow. Until 1967 he trained at VSS Trud, then - at VSS Spartak. During the period of failures, that followed the 1964 Olympics, Lagutin was removed from the USSR team roster. Along with his trainer Vladimir Trenin Lagutin managed to find causes of his losses and earned USSR and Olympic Champion titles again in 1968. This content is protected 5. Stanislav Stepashkin (1940 - 2013) Stanislav Ivanovich Stepashkin (Russian: Станислав Иванович Степашкин; 1 September 1940 – 4 September 2013) was an Olympic boxer from the Soviet Union.Born in Moscow, Stepashkin trained at Trudovye Rezervy until 1963 and then at the Armed Forces sports society. He became the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1964 and was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor in the following year. He competed at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in the Featherweight (-57 kg) division winning the gold medal. During his career Stepashkin won 193 fights out of 204. He graduated from the State Order of Lenin Central Institute of Physical Education. 6. Artur Beterbiev (1985 - ) Artur Asilbekovich Beterbiev (Chechen: Бетербиев Асильбекан Артур Russian: Артур Асильбекович Бетербиев; born 21 January 1985) is a Russian-born Canadian professional boxer. He is a unified light heavyweight champion, having held the IBF title since 2017, the WBC title since 2019 and the WBO title since 2022. As an amateur, Beterbiev won a silver medal at the 2007 World Championships, gold at the 2008 World Cup, 2009 World Championships, as well as gold at the 2006 and 2010 European Championships, all in the light-heavyweight division. He also reached the quarter-finals of the heavyweight bracket at the 2012 Olympics. Beterbiev is particularly known for his exceptional punching power, having won all of his professional fights by knockout or stoppage since debuting in 2013. This content is protected 7. Sultan Ibragimov (1975 - ) With an HPI of 37.18, Sultan Ibragimov is the 7th most famous Russian Boxer. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages. Sultan-Ahmed Magomedsalihovich Ibragimov (Russian: Султан-Ахмед Магомедсалихович Ибрагимов, Avar: Султан-АхӀмад МухӀаммадсалихӀазул вас Ибрагьимов; born 8 March 1975) is a Russian former professional boxer of Dagestani descent. He competed from 2002 to 2008, and held the WBO world heavyweight title from 2007 to 2008. He was ranked by BoxRec as the world's seventh best active heavyweight in 2005 and 2006, and sixth in 2007 and 2008. As an amateur he won silver medals at the 2000 Olympics and 2000 European Championships, and bronze at the 2001 World Championships, all in the heavyweight division. Ibragimov is one of six southpaws to become world heavyweight champion: the others being Michael Moorer, Corrie Sanders, Chris Byrd, Ruslan Chagaev, and Charles Martin. He remains one of only five former world heavyweight champions, alongside Gene Tunney, Rocky Marciano, Riddick Bowe and Nikolai Valuev to have never suffered a stoppage defeat. He also holds the second least career losses among former world heavyweight champions, having only lost to Wladimir Klitschko in his final fight. As of November 2020, BoxRec ranks Ibragimov as the 12th greatest Russian fighter of all time, pound-for-pound. 8. Sergey Kovalev (1983 - ) With an HPI of 36.08, Sergey Kovalev is the 8th most famous Russian Boxer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages. Sergey Alexandrovich Kovalev (Russian: Сергей Александрович Ковалёв; born 2 April 1983) is a Russian professional boxer. He has held multiple light-heavyweight world championships, including the WBA (Undisputed) and IBF titles from 2014 to 2016, and the WBO title three times between 2013 and 2019. Nicknamed the "Krusher", Kovalev is particularly known for his exceptional punching power, although he describes himself as "just a regular boxer".In November 2019, Kovalev was ranked as the world's second-best light-heavyweight by The Ring magazine, third by BoxRec, and fourth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. In 2014, The Ring named him its Fighter of the Year. 9. Rakhim Chakhkiev (1983 - ) Rakhim Ruslanovich Chakhkiev (Russian: Рахим Русланович Чахкиев; born 11 January 1983) is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2016. He held the IBO cruiserweight title in 2015, the European cruiserweight title in 2014, and challenged once for the WBC cruiserweight title in 2013. As an amateur he won a silver medal at the 2007 World Championships and gold at the 2008 Olympics, both in the heavyweight division. 10. Oleg Saitov (1974 - ) Oleg Elekpayevich Saitov (Russian: Оле́г Элекпа́евич Саи́тов; (born 26 May 1974 in Novokuybyshevsk, Russian SFSR to a Volga Tatar father and ethnic Russian mother) is a Russian former Olympic boxer. He won the Olympic gold medal at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics in the welterweight division, and bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics. Saitov was the winner of the Val Barker Trophy for Outstanding Boxer at the 2000 Olympic Games. In 2004, he won the title at the 2004 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Pula, Croatia.
Reading a bit about it: Finland - as independent country - was founded only in 1917 and Suvio was born in 1911, in village which was part of Russian Empire, so I guess He was technically born in Russia... maybe this list was titled - "Best Russian born boxers?".
There is a very clear cut answer to this question, in my humble opinion. Newsboy Brown. One of the greatest flyweights of all time. Just look at he list of men he beat. It includes an embarrassment of great flyweights and bantams.
His nationality is American, though he was born in Russia. I agree, if you consider him Russian, he's the greatest fighter from that country.
If Newsboy Brown does not qualify in your opinion, then I suspect that the best might be yet to come.