5 Best Canadian Boxers Of All Time

Canada has never been a dominant boxing nation, with the major heavyweight belts largely controlled by American, British, and Eastern European fighters. But the names this country has produced are worth knowing. For Canadian sports fans and bettors, boxing has always offered some of the most compelling lines on the board, and knowing the history helps. From a Nova Scotia puncher who never got his title shot to the last man to hold the undisputed heavyweight crown, these five fighters represent the best Canada has ever put in a ring.

5. Arturo Gatti (1972–2009)

Born in Italy and raised in Canada, Gatti held the IBF Junior Lightweight Title from 1995–1998 and the WBC Super Lightweight Title in 2004–2005. His record stood at 40-9 when he retired in 2007.

Nobody showed up to watch Gatti win on points. He was a brawler who bled, swung, and kept coming, and fans loved him for exactly that. The craft was secondary to the war.

He died in 2009 at 37. His wife was initially accused of homicide; an autopsy later ruled it a suicide.

4. Tommy Burns (1900–1920): The Heavyweight Nobody Wanted to Count

Born in Normanby Township, Ontario, Burns became the only Canadian-born boxer ever to hold the World Heavyweight title, winning it from Marvin Hart in 1906 as a 2-1 underdog despite standing just 5'7" and weighing 175 lbs.

His more significant legacy is this: in an era of rigid racial segregation, Burns was the first white heavyweight champion willing to fight Black challengers. His reasoning was simple: the best fighter in the world has to beat everyone. He eventually lost his title to Jack Johnson in 1908.

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 wiped out his earnings. He spent his later years as an insurance salesman and security guard, dying of a heart attack in 1955.

3. Jimmy McLarnin (1923–1936): The Right Hand Behind the Baby Face

Born in Ireland and raised in Canada from age three, McLarnin was a two-time welterweight world champion whose youthful appearance earned him the nickname "Baby-faced Assassin." The right hand told a different story.

His shot at the Lightweight title in 1928 ended in a loss to Sammy Mandell, but McLarnin beat him twice in the two years that followed. In 1933, he took the Welterweight title from Young Corbett III in 2 minutes and 37 seconds.

2. Samuel Langford (1902–1926): The Title That Was Never His to Win

Langford is the most haunting name on this list. From Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, he fought 313 bouts, won 211, and finished 126 by KO. At 5'6½" and 185 lbs, he hit with the kind of power fighters twice his size couldn't match. Comparisons to Mike Tyson came decades after the fact, when the boxing world finally got around to looking back.

He never won a world title. World Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson refused a rematch after their first fight, a decision widely read as Johnson knowing he'd lose. Langford spent much of his career fighting opponents beneath his level because the best fighters at the top weight classes simply wouldn't face him.

He's called "The Greatest Fighter Nobody Knows," though that's less a tribute than an indictment.

1. Lennox Lewis (1989–2004): Still the Last Man Standing

Lewis is the last heavyweight to hold the undisputed title. That record has now stood for over two decades, which says as much about the fractured state of modern heavyweight boxing as it does about the scale of his achievement.

Born in London and raised in Canada from age 12, Lewis turned professional in 1989 after winning Olympic gold for Canada in the Super Heavyweight division at the 1988 Seoul Games. Oliver McCall knocked him out in 1994, the one real interruption to an otherwise dominant run. Lewis came back, reclaimed the WBC title from McCall in 1997, and retired in 2004 as a three-time world heavyweight champion and two-time lineal champion.

His combination of size, technical discipline, and punching accuracy made him genuinely difficult to beat when he was locked in. He has worked as a boxing analyst and commentator since retiring, but the undisputed title remains his alone.