Boxing in the 1990s

As in the 1980s, the 1990s in boxing's popularity focused on all divisions. When 80's legends Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, as well as others retired, newer superstars filled the void: Pernell Whitaker, Julio César Chávez, in the early 90's, Oscar de la Hoya, Felix Trinidad, and Roy Jones Jr., in the mid to late 90s.

As for the heavyweight division, Mike Tyson's reign ends prematurely with the upset loss to Buster Douglas. Former cruiserweight champion, Evander Holyfield took over as the undisputed champion of the division, and later build a rivalry against former Olympic silver medalist, Riddick Bowe. The later 90's was dominated by Lennox Lewis who unified the division in 1999.

The 90s also saw the emergence of the battles between the British super middleweight fighters Chris Eubank, Michael Watson and Nigel Benn, all of whichs careers ended in tragedy.The end of the 90s saw Joe Calzaghe start his 10 year reign as super middle weight champion by scoring a unanamous decision over Chris Eubank.

List of notable fights by year

1990

*February 10 James Buster Douglas upsets Mike Tyson by 10th-round KO, to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Douglas was a 42-1 underdog.
*March 31 - "Thunder Meets Lightning": Julio César Chávez defeats Meldrick Taylor by 12th-round KO, for the WBC-IBF light welterweight unification. There was controversy as referee Richard Steele stops the contest with 2 seconds left in the bout and Taylor ahead on the scorecards.
*August 11 Pernell Whitaker defeats Juan Nazario by first-round knockout to unify the WBA,WBC,IBF belts and becomes the undisputed lightweight champion of the world.
*October 25 Buster Douglas's short reign as heavyweight champion ends as he loses to Evander Holyfield by third-round KO. Douglas was very noticeably out of shape, despite being in pinnacle shape in the Tyson fight, six months before.
*November 11 Julian Jackson wins by stunning knockout over Herol Graham by a devastating 4th-round KO for the vacated WBC middleweight title. Graham, ahead in the fight, was knocked out by Jackson by a devastating right hand and was out for five minutes.
*November 18 Chris Eubank wins the WBO middleweight title by beating Nigel Benn by 9th round TKO.

1991

*February 9 Terry Norris soundly defeats Sugar Ray Leonard by 12-round unanimous decision, and successfully defends his WBC super welterweight title.
*April 19 In his first defense as undisputed heavyweight champion, Evander Holyfield defeats George Foreman by unanimous decision. Foreman was surprisingly valiant in defeat despite being 41 years of age.
*June 1 in Palm Springs, California Terry Norris knocks out Donald Curry in the 8th round and successfully defends the WBC super welterweight championship.

1992

*June 19 Evander Holyfield successfully defends his undisputed heavyweight championship by unanimous decision over Larry Holmes.
*November 13 Riddick Bowe defeats Evander Holyfield by 12-round unanimous decision to become the undisputed champion of the world.

1993

*March 13 Michael Carbajal wins by KO against Humberto Gonzalez to unify the IBF and WBC Flyweight belts. Carbajal got knocked down twice during the fight and came back to knock out Gonzalez late in the seventh round.
*May 22 Roy Jones Jr. defeats Bernard Hopkins by unanimous decision to win the vacated IBF middleweight title.
*September 10 Julio César Chávez and Pernell Whitaker's fight for the WBC welterweight titile ends in a controversial draw, despite Whitaker seemingly dominating the fight.
*November 6 Evander Holyfield defeats Riddick Bowe by majority decision in their rematch for the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles. A man parachutes to the corner of the ring during the fight and starts a mini riot, the fight is later labelled The Fan Man Fight.

1994

*January 29 - Frankie Randall causes Julio César Chávez his first defeat in 91 professional bouts, winning the WBC world Jr. Welterweight title in the process, by a split decision in 12 rounds.
*September 24 Lennox Lewis loses his WBC championship after getting knocked out by Oliver McCall.
*November 5 George Foreman at 45 years old becomes the oldest heavyweight champion defeating Michael Moorer by knockout in round 10, with Foreman behind in all the scorecards.
*November 18 Roy Jones Jr. defeats James Toney by a lopsided unanimous decision to win the IBF super middlweight championship.

1995

*May 6 Oscar de la Hoya unifies the WBO and IBF Lightweight titles in his victory against Rafael Ruelas.
*August 19 Mike Tyson defeats Peter McNeeley in his first comeback fight.

1996

*March 16 – Mike Tyson defeats Frank Bruno by third round KO to win the WBC heavyweight title.
*June 7 – Oscar de la Hoya defeats Julio César Chávez by fourth round KO to win the WBC light welterweight title.
*July 11 – Andrew Golota gets disqualified during the seventh round of a fight against Riddick Bowe at Madison Square Garden for striking low blows against Bowe. A massive riot ensues, in which many civilians are injured.
*September 7 – Mike Tyson defeats Bruce Seldon in one round for the WBA heavyweight title, unifying it with the WBC heavyweight title he already holds.
*September 24 – Mike Tyson is stripped of the WBC heavyweight title.
*November 9 – Evander Holyfield wins by technical knockout against Mike Tyson to win the WBA heavyweight title.
*December 14 – Andrew Golota gets disqualified again against Riddick Bowe for low blows in their rematch.

1997

*March 21 Roy Jones Jr. loses his WBC light heavyweight title by disqualification to Montell Griffin for hitting after the fighter was down, suffering the first loss in his career, Jones Jr. was behind on two score cards.
*June 28 Evander Holyfield wins by disqualification over Mike Tyson, after Tyson tries to bite Holyfield's ear twice, to retaliating to Holyfield's headbutts.
*August 7 Roy Jones Jr. regains his WBC light heavyweight title by first-round knockout in his rematch against Montell Griffin.
*October 11 Joe Calzaghe floors Chris Eubank in the 1st and then goes on to score a wide unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO super middleweight title.

1998

*December 12 Fernando Vargas at 21 years of age, defeats Yori Boy Campas to win the IBF light middleweight title.

1999

*August 5 Roy Jones Jr. defeats Reggie Johnson and successfully unifies the light heavyweight division becoming the undisputed champion of the division.
*September 18 In what was billed as the Fight of the millennium, Felix Trinidad defeats Oscar de la Hoya by a controversial majority decision. The fight generated 1.4 million pay per view buys generating a record for a non heavyweight fight.
*November 13 Lennox Lewis becomes the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in his rematch against Evander Holyfield by unanimous decision.