How many professional boxers are there?

Someone on the website Answerbag said there are around 20,000 active professionals world-wide. Take that for what it's worth.
 
Someone on the website Answerbag said there are around 20,000 active professionals world-wide. Take that for what it's worth.

Boxrec lists 17,883 active boxers across the world. Now, some of them are likely "fakes"... the very first entry is a 1-0 boxer called "blank blank" so around 17,800 is probably the right answer... although of course despite being brilliant Boxrec still misses bouts, especially those held in lesser known locations.

As for US boxers I'd struggle to tell you... Boxrec's "boxer location" search is hateful to use and not exactly accurate... and off the top of my head I can't really think of any easy way to find those who are truly "pro".
 
Boxrec definetely misses a lot of fighters. There are some fights early in careers that are just outright missing. I know some local pro fighters who aren't listed on boxrec either. It's a great site though still.
 
I think boxrec doesn't count you as active if you haven't fought in 12 months, so there are many pros outside of the 17,800 active who do nothing but boxing for income, but have been out a while due to injury, contractual issues, or just for the fuck of it.
 
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