The Ring magazine was established in 1922 and gave an award for Progress of the Year from 1953 to 1988. It is given to a boxer who had made significant progress during the preceding year, or had otherwise made the most impressive jump from comparative obscurity to international prominence.
- 1953 – Nino Valdes
- 1954 – Pascual Perez
- 1955 – Chuck Spieser
- 1956 – Eddie Machen
- 1957 – Roy Harris (boxer)
- 1958 – Don Jordan
- 1959 – Charley Scott
- 1960 – Giulio Rinaldi
- 1961:
- 1962:
- 1963:
- 1964 – Vicente Saldivar
- 1965 – Alan Rudkin
- 1966 – Joe Frazier
- 1967 – Jimmy Ellis
- 1968 – Shozo Saijo
- 1969 – Mac Foster
- 1970 – George Foreman
- 1971 – Chris Finnegan
- 1972 – Bert Nabalatan
- 1973 – Santos Luis Rivera
- 1974 – Soo-Hwan Hong
- 1975 – Mike Colbert
- 1976 – Ruben Castillo
- 1977 – Eddie Gazo
- 1978 – Leon Spinks
- 1979 – Chan-Hee Park
- 1980 –
- 1981 –
- 1982 –
- 1983 – John Mugabi
- 1984 – Francisco Quiroz
- 1985 – Lonnie Smith
- 1986 – Samart Payakaroon
- 1987 – Kelvin Seabrooks
- 1988 – Michael Nunn
