BOXERS from Bulgaria

Top 5

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Bulgarian Boxers of all time. This list of famous Bulgarian Boxers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Ivailo Marinov (1960 - )

With an HPI of 37.43, Ivailo Marinov is the most famous Bulgarian Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages on wikipedia.

Ivailo Marinov (Bulgarian: Ивайло Маринов; born 13 July 1960 in Varna, also known as Ismail Mustafov, Ismail Huseinov or Ivailo Khristov) is a Bulgarian boxer of Muslim Romani ancestry, who won the bronze medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in light flyweight, and the gold medal in the same category at the 1988 Summer Olympics

2. Kubrat Pulev (1981 - )

With an HPI of 35.63, Kubrat Pulev is the 2nd most famous Bulgarian Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Kubrat Venkov Pulev (Bulgarian: Кубрат Венков Пулев; born 4 May 1981) is a Bulgarian professional boxer. He has challenged once for the IBF and the Ring magazine heavyweight titles in 2014, and once for the unified heavyweight title in 2020. At regional level, he has held multiple heavyweight championships, including the European title twice between 2012 and 2016. As an amateur, he won multiple medals at international tournaments, including gold at the 2008 European Championships and bronze at the 2005 World Championships, all in the super-heavyweight division. He also represented Bulgaria at the 2008 Olympics. As of March 2024, Pulev is ranked #10 by the WBA. He was ranked by BoxRec in the world's top 10 heavyweights in every year from 2011 to 2018.

3. Svilen Rusinov (1964 - )

With an HPI of 35.33, Svilen Rusinov is the 3rd most famous Bulgarian Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Svilen Aldinov Rusinov (Bulgarian: Свилен Алдинов Русинов; born February 29, 1964, in Teteven) is a Bulgarian boxer, who twice competed at the Summer Olympics for his native country. He won a bronze medal in the super heavyweight division (+ 91 kg) at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

4. Vladimir Kolev (1953 - )

With an HPI of 33.81, Vladimir Kolev is the 4th most famous Bulgarian Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Vladimir Kolev (Bulgarian: Владимир Колев, born April 18, 1954) is a retired boxer from Bulgaria and Olympic bronze medalist. He also works as an actor, and has appeared in many American films. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, he won the bronze medal in the light welterweight division (– 63'5 kg) after being defeated in the semifinals by eventual runner-up Andrés Aldama of Cuba. Two years earlier, at the inaugural 1974 World Championships in Havana, Cuba, he won the silver medal, after losing to Ayub Kalule from Uganda in the final.

5. Tervel Pulev (1983 - )

With an HPI of 31.16, Tervel Pulev is the 5th most famous Bulgarian Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Tervel Venkov Pulev (Bulgarian: Тервел Венков Пулев) is a Bulgarian professional boxer. He has held the WBA International cruiserweight title since December 2019 and previously the European Union cruiserweight title in 2018.