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10 Oldest Male Fighters To Win World Titles
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Anson Wainwright
Anson Wainwright
RingMagazine.com
10 Oldest Male Fighters To Win World Titles
On Saturday night, recent Hall of Fame inductee Manny Pacquiao - one of the most popular fighters of all-time - will end his four-year retirement to return at the grand old age of 46.

The Filipino icon will look to become the second-oldest fighter in history to win a world title when facing Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight title at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.

Their championship contest tops a stacked Premier Boxing Champions card with two world title fights, budding contenders and returning former titleholders all featuring on another busy night of boxing to cap Prime Video's coverage ($79.95 PPV) in Las Vegas.

Here is a list of the 10 oldest male fighters to win a major world title in history. It should not be confused with the oldest fighters to hold world championships. For example, Archie Moore - a light heavyweight champion into his 40s - isn't included, as he won the title at 36.

The exclusion also goes for interim champions such as Poland's Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, who recently became WBC Bridgerweight titleholder aged 43.

1. BERNARD HOPKINS (49 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AND 4 DAYS): Light heavyweight
Hopkins extended his own record when he unified the WBA and IBF 175-pound titles by outpointing Beibut Shumenov in April 2014.

2. GEORGE FOREMAN (45 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AND 26 DAYS): Heavyweight
The popular American was trailing badly on the scorecards, when he landed a picture-perfect right hand to knockout the much younger Michael Moorer in November 1994.

3. SUGAR BOY MALINGA (42 YEARS AND 8 DAYS): Super middleweight
The ageless South African perennial super middleweight contender upset Robin Reid in December 1997 to regain the WBC title.

4. CORNELIUS BUNDRAGE (41 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AND 16 DAYS): Junior middleweight
The Detroit native unseated Carlos Molina with a wide 12-round decision victory on enemy territory in Cancun, Mexico to regain the IBF title in October 2014.

5. MANNY PACQUIAO (40 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AND 3 DAYS): Welterweight
The modern-day legend rolled back the years and added another name to his already impressive resume when he outboxed Keith Thurman in July 2019.

6. BOB FITZSIMMONS (40 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AND 30 DAYS): Light heavyweight
The former middleweight and heavyweight champion dropped down in weight to light heavyweight to become boxing's first three-weight world champ when he beat George Gardner in November 1903.

7. ANTONIO TARVER (39 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AND 22 DAYS): Light heavyweight
The former Ring light heavyweight champ regained the IBF 175-pound title by easily outpointing Clinton Woods in April 2008.

8. BADOU JACK (39 YEARS, 4 MONTHS): Cruiserweight
Jack, who had world championship success at super middleweight and light heavyweight, jumped to cruiserweight before claiming the WBC title in his fourth divisional appearance by scoring a 12th-round stoppage of Ilunga Makabu in February 2023.

9. MUHAMMAD RACHMAN (39 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AND 27 DAYS): Strawweight
In the twilight of his career, the Indonesian veteran snapped a four-fight losing streak to knockout unbeaten WBA titleholder Kwanthai Sithmorseng in Thailand in April 2011.

10. GIACOBBE FRAGOMENI (39 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AND 11 DAYS): Cruiserweight
The former amateur standout turned professional late and won the vacant WBC title against Rudolf Kraj in October 2008.

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk and you can follow him on Twitter@AnsonWainwr1ght

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