BOXERS from China

Top 6

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 (1981 - )

With an HPI of 38.09, Zou Shiming is the most famous Chinese Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages on wikipedia.

Zou Shiming (simplified Chinese: 邹市明; traditional Chinese: 鄒市明; pinyin: Zōu Shìmíng; born 18 May 1981) is a Chinese former professional boxer who competed from 2013 to 2017 and held the WBO flyweight title from 2016 to 2017. As an amateur, Zou 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 is also a teacher.

2. Zhang Xiaoping (1982 - )

With an HPI of 31.59, Zhang Xiaoping is the 2nd most famous Chinese Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 20 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.

3. Kanat Islam (1984 - )

With an HPI of 31.31, Kanat Islam is the 3rd 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.

4. Zhang Zhilei (1983 - )

With an HPI of 25.10, Zhang Zhilei is the 4th most famous Chinese Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Zhilei Zhang (Chinese: 张志磊; pinyin: Zhāng Zhìlěi; born May 2, 1983) is a Chinese professional boxer. He previously held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) interim heavyweight title between 2023 and March 2024. As an amateur, he won bronze medals at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships, and a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics, all in the super-heavyweight division. As of January 2024, Zhang is ranked as the world's third-best active heavyweight by The Ring magazine.

5. Li Qian (1990 - )

With an HPI of 20.69, Li Qian is the 5th most famous Chinese Boxer.  Her biography has been translated into 15 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, and a silver medal in the same event at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics.

6. Ren Cancan (1986 - )

With an HPI of 19.27, Ren Cancan is the 6th 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.