How many weight categories are in boxing, and what is each called?

During the pinnacle of early popularity on the brink between the 19th and the 20th century, boxing had only two simple weight classes. “Heavier weights,” anyone weighing above 160 lbs. and “lighter weights,” anyone below 160 lbs. From there comes the origin of the name Middleweight weight division because the 160 lbs. used to be the line that split heavier weights from lighter ones.

Ultimately, boxing grew and evolved, so the Marquess of Queensberry Rules became the official rules of modern boxing, and it was then decided to assemble the original eight weight classes. The origin of Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight is pretty straightforward, but below middleweight is where some imaginative consideration came into play.

A weight division in boxing represents a weight limit for boxers partaking in a fight. The official contests are usually organized for the fighters to compete in a specific weight class, intending to make the clash more evened out. The boxers must not surpass the limit of the specified weight class on the day of the official weigh-in, usually occurring one day before the fight.

Since 2020, the four central boxing-sanctioning bodies have recognized 17 weight divisions in professional boxing. The liberty to use distinct names for some divisions were left out to the different sanctioning bodies.

The official 17 weight divisions differ around the units used to define the weight limits in pounds (most commonly used in the US), kilograms (Europe and the rest of the world), and stones (widely used in the UK for human body weight) within which boxers can compete in.

Strawweight

The division was first introduced in 1968 at the Summer Olympics in Mexico as a light flyweight, with a weight limit of 105 lb / 47.63 kg. However, in professional boxing, the division is relatively young. Also known as the Strawweight, aka Mini Flyweight or Minimumweight, it was added as a professional weight class in 1987 and is named after the term “straw,” which means the least possible thing. The IBF sanctioned the first world minimum title fight between Kyung-Yun Lee and Masaharu Kawakami in June 1987.

Flyweight

Flyweight (112 lbs) was a new term when the weight class was created in 1909 and is presumably named after the insect—the smallest of boxing’s original glamour divisions and one that has produced many legendary champions. Flyweight was initially established in 1909 for the much lighter fighters of those times.

Superflyweight

Super-flyweight has been around in boxing since the dawn of the 20th century but evolved and was more widely received among spectators in the 1980s.

Bantamweight

Bantamweight (118 lbs) comes from “bantam,” a word from bantam chickens, which are miniature versions of different chicken breeds. The NSC officially ratified it in 1909 at the current 118 lb / 53.52 kg limit. The first title fight at bantamweight was decided between Chappie Moran and Tommy Kelly in New Jersey in 1988 when Tommy Kelly came…