Boxing in the 1990s

As in the 1980s, the 1990s in boxing's popularity focused on all divisions. When 80s legends Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, as well as others retired, newer superstars filled the void: Pernell Whitaker, Julio César Chávez, in the early 90s, Oscar De La Hoya, Félix 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 90s 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 in Tokyo, 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......
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