The Ring Magazine Championship

Not a sanctioning body in the formal sense, The Ring magazine has awarded a championship belt since 1922 — making it older than every body except the WBA. Recognised as the "lineal" champion in many divisions, The Ring belt was revived in 2002 under editor Nigel Collins and is, by tradition, awarded only to a true Number 1 (or the winner of a Number 1 vs. Number 2 bout). It cannot be vacated by inactivity, only by retirement, weight-class move, or a loss in the ring.

Ranking methodology

The magazine publishes a monthly top-10 per division, voted by a panel of approximately 50 boxing journalists and historians. The rankings explicitly do not consider sanctioning-body politics — only in-ring performance and head-to-head logic.

Notable controversies

• ▸Ring belts have at times sat vacant for years (e.g., heavyweight 2004–2006) because the editors refused to crown a unification winner if the magazine's ranking criteria were not met.
• ▸In 2007 the magazine was purchased by Golden Boy Promotions, raising conflict-of-interest concerns. Editorial independence has been a re-occurring debate ever since.
• ▸The 2017 "Champion Emeritus" designation given to Floyd Mayweather Jr. on his retirement, criticised by some as inconsistent with the magazine's own "must lose in the ring" rule.