The Most Famous
BOXERS from China
This page contains a list of the greatest Chinese Boxers. The pantheon dataset contains 496 Boxers, 6 of which were born in China. This makes China the birth place of the 17th most number of Boxers behind Ukraine, and Azerbaijan.
Top 8
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Chinese Boxers of all time. This list of famous Chinese Boxers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Zou Shiming (b. 1981)
With an HPI of 39.92, Zou Shiming is the most famous Chinese Boxer. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages on wikipedia.
Zou Shiming (Chinese: 邹市明; pinyin: Zōu Shìmíng; born 18 May 1981) is a Chinese former boxer and two-time Olympic champion. In amateur boxing, he is China's most successful boxer of all time. In the light-flyweight division, he won three consecutive Olympic medals (bronze in 2004 and gold in 2008 and 2012), as well as three World Amateur Boxing Championships gold medals in 2005, 2007 and 2011. He competed in professional boxing from 2013 to 2017 and held the WBO flyweight title from 2016 to 2017.
2. Zhang Zhilei (b. 1983)
With an HPI of 38.36, Zhang Zhilei is the 2nd most famous Chinese Boxer. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Zhilei Zhang (Chinese: 张志磊; pinyin: Zhāng Zhìlěi; born May 2, 1983) is a Chinese professional boxer. He held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) interim heavyweight title between 2023 and March 2024. As of June 2024, Zhang is ranked as the world's fifth-best active heavyweight by The Ring magazine. As an amateur, he was highly regarded by American promoters by 2009 after winning a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics and bronze medals at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships. His career stalled from 2009 to 2019, however, by a combination of his belated release from the Chinese boxing authorities to turn professional, the managerial and legal fiasco of two successive fringe promotional companies, and his visa problems. He could not line up high-profile matches until he signed Matchroom Sport in 2020 at 37 years of age. Zhang considered his fight with Jerry Forrest in 2021 to be the landmark moment of his career until that point.
3. Zhang Xiaoping (b. 1982)
With an HPI of 32.31, Zhang Xiaoping is the 3rd most famous Chinese Boxer. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Zhang Xiaoping (simplified Chinese: 张小平; traditional Chinese: 張小平; pinyin: Zhāng Xiǎopíng; born April 1, 1982, in Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia) is a Chinese amateur boxer of Mongol ethnicity who won a gold medal as a light heavyweight in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
4. Kanat Islam (b. 1984)
With an HPI of 31.93, Kanat Islam is the 4th most famous Chinese Boxer. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Kanat Islam (Kazakh: Қанат Ислам, Qanat İslam; Chinese: 哈那提 斯拉木; pinyin: Hanati Silamu; born 13 September 1984) is a Chinese-born Kazakhstani professional boxer who currently lives and trains in Miami. As an amateur, he represented China, winning bronze medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2007 World Championships and the 2006 Asian Games.
5. Ren Cancan (b. 1986)
With an HPI of 27.21, Ren Cancan is the 5th most famous Chinese Boxer. Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Ren Cancan (Chinese: 任灿灿; pinyin: Rén Càncàn; born April 26, 1986, in Jining, Shandong) is a female Chinese boxer who has won three world championships. She took up boxing in 2002 and won the silver medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in the Women's Boxing – Flyweight Division as southpaw, she is also a bronze medalist of women's 51 kg title at 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She lost in both of her Olympic Games to the double-champion Nicola Adams. Her official birthdate is January 26, 1988, as registered with the international boxing association, but she told Reuters in Chinese through a translator, that her actual birthdate is April 26, 1986. January 26, 1988, is nine months after April 26, 1987, of the prior year, and East Asian age reckoning often used conception date for girls in the past, but that does not explain the extra year discrepancy coming from the translator.
6. Li Qian (b. 1990)
With an HPI of 15.61, Li Qian is the 6th most famous Chinese Boxer. Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Li Qian (Chinese: 李倩; pinyin: Lǐ Qiàn; born 6 June 1990) is a Chinese boxer. She won the bronze medal in the women's middleweight class at the 2016 Summer Olympics, a silver medal in the women's middleweight class at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics and the gold medal in the same event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
7. Valentina Khalzova (b. 1997)
With an HPI of 0.00, Valentina Khalzova is the 7th most famous Chinese Boxer. Her biography has been translated into different languages.
Valentina Khalzova is a Kazakhstani amateur boxer. She won a gold medal at the 2016 World Championships and bronze at the 2022 edition.
8. Mahammad Abdullayev (b. 1999)
With an HPI of 0.00, Mahammad Abdullayev is the 8th most famous Chinese Boxer. His biography has been translated into different languages.
Mahammad Abdullayev (Azerbaijani: Məhəmməd Ramazan oğlu Abdullayev, born 6 April 1999) is an Azerbaijani boxer. He competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics at super heavyweight but lost to eventual winner Bakhodir Jalolov in the second round. He then contested the men's super heavyweight division at the 2021 World Championships, where he won a medal.
People
Pantheon has 8 people classified as Chinese boxers born between 1981 and 1999. Of these 8, 8 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Chinese boxers include Zou Shiming, Zhang Zhilei, and Zhang Xiaoping. As of April 2024, 2 new Chinese boxers have been added to Pantheon including Valentina Khalzova, and Mahammad Abdullayev.
Living Chinese Boxers
Go to all Rankings
Zou Shiming
1981 - Present
HPI: 39.92
Zhang Zhilei
1983 - Present
HPI: 38.36
Zhang Xiaoping
1982 - Present
HPI: 32.31
Kanat Islam
1984 - Present
HPI: 31.93
Ren Cancan
1986 - Present
HPI: 27.21
Li Qian
1990 - Present
HPI: 15.61
Valentina Khalzova
1997 - Present
HPI: 0.00
Mahammad Abdullayev
1999 - Present
HPI: 0.00
