World Boxing Union

"WBU" redirects here. For other uses, see WBU (disambiguation).

The World Boxing Union (WBU) was a boxing sanctioning body. The original WBU was founded in January 1995 by IBF European representative, boxing journalist, actor and former holder of the title of Britain's heaviest man ^{[1] [2]} Jon W. Robinson. It sanctioned boxing with various promoters worldwide. Following Robinson's death in 2004, the organization became dormant and was eventually dissolved.

World Boxing Union

Abbreviation	WBU
Founder	Jon W. Robinson
Founded at	London, UK
Purpose	Boxing sanctioning organization
Headquarters	Organization dissolved
Region	Worldwide
president	Jon Robinson

An organization serving the same purpose and with the same name, but with no connections to the original, was formed in Germany in 2010 under the leadership of Torsten Knille.^[3]

George Foreman beat challenger Crawford Grimsley 3-0 by decision in his first defense in Japan on November 3, 1996. The event was outside the jurisdiction of the Japan Boxing Commission. WBU is unfamiliar with the Japanese boxing industry, but Thai national champion Soh Ohba, a Japanese fighter, will be named 4th in the super featherweight division from August 2022.He is the son of the younger brother of Masao Ohba, a superstar and legendary hero in Japanese boxing in the 1970s, making him the nephew.He has been the Japan representative since June 2025.

Main articles: George Foreman vs. Crawford Grimsley, George Foreman vs. Lou Savarese, and George Foreman vs. Shannon Briggs

List of WBU heavyweight champions

Name	Duration of reign	Defenses	Notes
George Foreman (USA)[4]	March 29, 1995 – 1997	2	Foreman was recognized as champion after he was stripped of the IBF title
Corrie Sanders (RSA)[5]	November 15, 1997 – May 20, 2000	3	Defeated Ross Purity
Hasim Rahman (USA)[6]	May 20, 2000 – April 21, 2001	0	Relinquished the title in order to fight Lennox Lewis for the IBF, IBO and WBC titles
Johnny Nelson (GBR)[7]	November 24, 2001 – December 4, 2001	0	Defeated Alexander Vasiliev. Relinquished the title in order to concentrate on defending his WBO Cruiserweight title
Georgi Kandelaki (GEO)[8]	December 21, 2002 – January 2004	0	Defeated Alexander Vasiliev. Kandelaki either relinquished or was stripped of the title
Matt Skelton (GBR)[9]	February 25, 2005 – January 26, 2009	0	Skelton relinquished the title

Other WBU champions (selected)

Other past WBU champions include Sirimongkol Singwancha, Sornpichai Kratingdaenggym, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Ricky Hatton, Eamonn Magee, Tony Oakey, Corrie Sanders, Enzo Maccarinelli, Lee McAllister, Angel Manfredy, George Scott, Hasim Rahman, Willie Limond, Craig Docherty, Michael Gomez, Kevin Lear, Anthony Farnell, Jimmy Lange, Derry Mathews, Choi Tseveenpurev, Jeremy Williams, Cristian Charquero, Wayne Elcock, Roy Jones Jr., David Burke, Vinny Pazienza, and Micky Ward.

In addition, Carlos Contreras defeated challenger Victor Rabanales by 8RTKO.

• List of WBU world champions