Honorable Mention

Mike Plania

is the first fighter on our list of honorable mentions. He is an exciting young fighter from the Philippines with a record of 25 wins and 1 loss.

Gary Antonio Russell

from the USA also deserves an honorable mention on this list. The undefeated fighter has a record of 18 victories and no defeats.

Michael Dasmarinas

is an exciting southpaw fighter from the Philippines. With a record of 30-2-1, he won his last fight against Artid Bamrungauea.

 

Top 10 Bantamweights

10. Zolani Tete

Zolani Tete is a professional boxer from South Africa, and he has a record of 28-4. 

Tete is a former two-weight world champion. He held the IBF junior-bantamweight title from 2014 to 2015 and defended it once before moving to bantamweight. Tete also held the WBO bantamweight title from 2017 to 2019 defending it twice before losing it to John Riel Casimero in his last fight. 

Tete has however been inactive since November of 2019, and there is still no announcement of his return.

 

9. Emmanuel Rodriguez

Next up, we have Emmanuel Rodriguez from Puerto Rico. he has a professional boxing record of 19 wins, 2 losses, and 1 no-contest

Rodriguez is also the former IBF bantamweight champion, a title he won after defeating Paul Butler in 2018. He defended the title once, before losing it to Naoya Inoue in 2019. Rodriguez also challenged Reymart Gaballo for the WBC interim bantamweight title but couldn’t do enough, and lost a split decision. 

His most recent fight against Gary Antonio Russell was ruled as a no-contest, after an accidental head clash, and there is no announcement about his next fight.

 

8. Reymart Gaballo

Reymart Gaballo is a Filipino professional boxer with an undefeated professional record of 24 wins and no losses. 

 He is the current WBC interim bantamweight champion and has held the title since 2020. Previously he also held the WBA interim bantamweight title in 2018.

In his most recent fight, he defeated Emmanuel Rodríguez, and his next fight has not been announced yet.

 

7. Jason Moloney

Jason “mayhem” Moloney is an Australian boxer, with a record of 22 wins and only 2 defeats, both of which came when he was challenging for the world title. 

“Mayhem” has held multiple regional titles including the WBA Oceania bantamweight title. He challenged the current champion, Naoya Inoue for the  WBA (Super), IBF, and The Ring bantamweight titles in 2020, however, he came short. 

Last weekend, Molony defeated Joshua Greer Jr. to win the vacant WBC Silver bantamweight title; his next fight has not been announced yet.

 

Guilermo Rigondeaux and John Riel Casimero break the @CompuBox record for fewest combined punches landed in a 12-round fight with 91.

Previous record was 100 combined landed punches in Mario Barrios vs. Devis Boschiero (7/9/16)

— Dan Canobbio (@DanCanobbio) August 15, 2021

 

6. Guillermo Rigondeaux

Next up, we have the Cuban legend Guillermo Rigondeaux. With a record of 20-2, Rigondeaux is a two-weight world champion. 

He is the former unified WBA (Super), WBO, and Ring magazine super-bantamweight champion, and he currently holds the  WBA (Regular) bantamweight title. Rigondeaux was also notably challenged for the  WBO super-featherweight back in 2017.

In 2020 he defeated Liborio Solís and won the WBA bantamweight title. Last weekend, he attempted to defend his title against John Riel Casimero. After a slow fight went the distance, Rigondeaux lost via split decision. There was not enough action as he only landed 44 punches which combined Casimero broke the record for fewest punches landed with 91.

 

5. Takuma Inoue

From Japan, Takuma Inoue is a very exciting fighter in the bantamweight division. 

With a record of 14-1, he is also the former WBC interim bantamweight champion. He won the title after defeating Petch Sor Chitpattana in 2018. Takuma Inoue also faced Nordine Oubaali for the world title but came up short. 

In his most recent match, he defeated Keita Kuriharato to get back into the win column and won the OPBF bantamweight title. Inoue’s next fight has not been announced yet. 

 

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4. John Riel Casimero

Title(s): WBO Champion

John Riel Casimero is among the most exciting fighters to come out of the Philippines. With a record of 31 wins and 4 losses, he has held world titles in three different weight classes. 

Apart from being the current WBO bantamweight champion, having held the title since 2019, John Riel Casimero has also held the IBF junior-flyweight and the IBF flyweight title he also won interim titles in both divisions. 

His most recent fight was last weekend when he defeated Cuban legend Guillermo Rigondeaux via split decision. The fight was not exciting but he did enough to pull off the win. His next fight has not been announced yet but wants the WBC Champion Nonito Donaire.

 

3. Nordine Oubaali

Our Number 3 pick for the list is Nordine Oubaali, a french professional fighter with Moroccan descent and a record of 17-1. 

He is the former WBC bantamweight champion, a title which he recently lost to Nonito Donaire in May of this year. He defended the title twice before losing it. Oubaali has also won multiple regional titles including the  WBC Silver bantamweight title and the WBA Inter-Continental bantamweight title.

His next fight has not been announced yet.

 

2. Nonito Donaire

Title(s): WBC Champion

Nonito Donaire is a Filipino-American professional boxer with a record of 41-6. Donaire is a future Hall of Famer, having held multiple titles in multiple weight classes. 

These include the  IBF and IBO flyweight titles, WBA interim super-flyweight titles, WBC and WBO bantamweight titles, the WBO super-bantamweight title, and the WBA (Undisputed) featherweight title. 

Dionaire also won the WBC bantamweight title for the second time in his career in his last fight against Nordine Oubaali. His next fight has not been announced yet. 

 

1. Naoya Inoue

Title(s): WBA Super, IBF, The Ring Champion

Leading the pack of the bantamweights is Naoya Inoue. With an undefeated record of 21-0, he is the current unified bantamweight champion and has also held titles in two more divisions. 

He won the WBC light-flyweight title in 2014, and defended it once, before moving up, and winning the WBO junior-bantamweight title, which he defended 7 times. He currently holds the WBA (Super), IBF, and The Ring bantamweight titles.

In his most recent fight, he defended his titles against Michael Dasmariñas and won via KO in the 3rd round. His next fight has not been announced yet.

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Related Links: 

• Top 10 Minimumweight Boxer Rankings
• Top 10 Cruiserweight Boxer Rankings