Boxing in The 1980s - 1988

1988

• January 22- Mike Tyson retains his undisputed world Heavyweight championship with a fourth round knockout win against former world champion Larry Holmes in Atlantic City.
• March 7- Jeff Fenech becomes the eleventh boxer to win world titles in three different divisions, knocking out former world champion Victor Callejas in ten rounds at Sydney, Australia, for the vacant WBC world Featherweight title.
• March 29- Lloyd Honeyghan recovers the WBC world Welterweight championship with a third round knockout of Jorge Vaca in their rematch at London.
• April 9- Evander Holyfield unifies his WBA world Cruiserweight title with the WBC one, knocking out Carlos De León in eight rounds at Las Vegas.
• June 6- Iran Barkley conquers the WBC world Middleweight title with a third round knockout of Thomas Hearns, who had cut Barkley seriously in round two, in Las Vegas.
• June 27- Mike Tyson retains his undisputed world Heavyweight title with a first round knockout of former world champion Michael Spinks in Las Vegas.
• July 29- In an extremely controversial bout, Colombia's Tomas Molinares becomes WBA world Welterweight champion by knocking out Marlon Starling in six rounds in Atlantic City. Starling's camp protested that the knockout punch had landed after the bell to end the round, therefore, it shouldn't have counted. After further review, the WBA agreed with Starling's camp, but decided not to withdraw recognition from Molinares as world champion.
• August 4- The last fifteen rounds bout, as Jorge Páez defeats Calvin Grove by a majority decision to become the IBF's world Featherweight champion.
• October 29- Julio César Chávez unifies his WBA world Lightweight title with the WBC one, beating his friend and neighbor, José Luis Ramírez, by a technical decision in round eleven in Las Vegas.
• November 7- The first fight involving titles in two different categories and the world Super Middleweight championship sees Sugar Ray Leonard become boxing's second four division world champion and its first five division world champion when he knocks out WBC world Light Heavyweight champion Donnie LaDonde in the ninth round, also winning the WBC's vacant Super Middleweight championship, at Las Vegas.