Next month brings up nine years since Great Britain ruled the boxing world for the first and only time in the sport’s modern history.

That was when Birmingham’s Kal Yafai beat Luis Concepcion to claim the WBA junior bantamweight belt, becoming the 13th man in Britain at that time to hold a version of the world title.

The country had never had so many concurrent champions before then, and they have never even come close since. The 13th title, which Yafai secured on December 16, 2016, pushed Britain one ahead of the U.S., which sat on 12, while Mexico had eight and Japan had six.

It was a list that included the likes of Anthony Joshua (the IBF heavyweight champion), Tony Bellew (the WBC cruiserweight champion), as well as Carl Frampton, Billy Joe Saunders and James DeGale, among others.
At the time, nobody could really explain what had made British boxing boom in such a way that stars from these shores were collecting versions of world titles at such a rate, whether on home soil or abroad, like when Kell Brook beat Shawn Porter in California to become IBF welterweight king. Perhaps it had to do with the successful amateur programme which had helped steer both Joshua and DeGale to Olympic gold a few years previous, maybe it was coincidence, maybe it was luck. One argument is that boxing is simply cyclical, and Britain had rolled into a high point naturally.

Regardless, the purple patch was exactly that, a patch, and it was not long until those champions lost their belts, and Great Britain were knocked off the top of the table once again.

Now, nine years on from those heady days, Britain has just three male world champions. And one of those, Fabio Wardley, was elevated to his position via email after Oleksandr Usyk vacated his full title earlier this week.
Elsewhere, The Ring’s No. 3-rated featherweight Nick Ball remains the WBA champion, while Lewis Crocker, who resides outside The Ring’s welterweight top 10, is the IBF 147-pound king.

But on Saturday night at ANB Arena, Riyadh, Great Britain could move up to five world champions in the space of an evening’s boxing, with both Anthony Yarde and Sam Noakes one win away from a major belt.

Yarde, in his third world title shot to date, faces WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez, while Maidstone puncher Noakes and Abdullah Mason fight for the vacant WBO lightweight belt, as part of The Ring IV: Night of Champions event live on DAZN.
Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) is The Ring’s fourth-ranked light heavyweight as it stands, and has rebuilt to this point following stoppage defeats to both Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev. At 34, he could come again and work his way back into title contention should he lose on Saturday, but it would be another long road.

Noakes (17-0, 15 KOs), on the other hand, is fighting for his place at an already crowded lightweight top table. He has spoken of a victory over Mason, and the WBO title it will glean, as being his ticket to the superstars in the division. He is only 28 and not expected to win, but a British champion at lightweight would be huge for the size of fights it would open doors to.

The same can be said of Yarde at light heavyweight. Ring champion Dmitry Bivol still rules the roost at 175 pounds, while Beterbiev is No.1 in the rankings, just ahead of Benavidez at No. 2 and Callum Smith at No. 3. The man from Liverpool is expected to face David Morrell for the WBO interim belt next. Again, should Yarde get his hands on the WBC title this week, an all-English showdown against Smith would be huge for the country at a time when British fans have been starved of Anthony Joshua against Tyson Fury and other obvious domestic fights.

And, although a pair of British victories in Riyadh would not boost Britain anywhere near that old 13 mark, it would prove that the country is still capable of winning major titles in some of boxing’s hottest divisions of the moment. In a sport where there are 68 major titles up for grabs in the men’s code (not including interim, “regular” or recess belts) a market as big as the UK should account for more than three of them.

If things don’t go to plan for Noakes and Yarde, there are a few others waiting in the wings, such as Moses Itauma and Hamzah Sheeraz, who look certain to clinch world titles for Britain. But it will extinguish hopes of a number of big fights involving Britain over the next year or two at lightweight and light heavy.

But if they both win, and take the UK onto five in the process, perhaps the next golden cycle will have truly begun.