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Professional boxing has 17 recognized weight classes, ranging from minimumweight (105 pounds) to heavyweight (over 200 pounds). Understanding the weight classes is fundamental to following the sport — knowing which division a fighter competes in, how it compares to adjacent divisions, and why fighters move up or down the weight scale throughout their careers gives fights context and meaning.

The Seventeen Professional Boxing Weight Classes

Listed from lightest to heaviest:

Minimumweight (105 lbs / 47.6 kg): Also called strawweight or light flyweight in some organizations. The lightest professional division, popular primarily in Asia and Latin America. Most Americans and Europeans are unfamiliar with fighters at this weight, but the competition is fierce and the speed of fighters at 105 pounds is extraordinary. Notable champions include Ricardo Lopez and Hiroshi Miyashita.

Light Flyweight (108 lbs / 49 kg): Also called super minimumweight. A thin division with limited star power in Western markets but significant depth in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Flyweight (112 lbs / 50.8 kg): One of boxing’s oldest divisions. Notable champions include Miguel Canto, Michael Carbajal, and Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. Manny Pacquiao began his championship career at flyweight.

Super Flyweight (115 lbs / 52.2 kg): Also called junior bantamweight. A growing division with excellent depth in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai have produced multiple classics at this weight.

Bantamweight (118 lbs / 53.5 kg): A historically significant division with many great champions. Notable champions include Eder Jofre, Ruben Olivares, and Naoya “Monster” Inoue, who is currently one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in boxing.

Super Bantamweight (122 lbs / 55.3 kg): Also called junior featherweight. Home to some of boxing’s most technically gifted fighters. The division currently features outstanding depth with multiple talented champions.

Featherweight (126 lbs / 57.2 kg): One of boxing’s most celebrated divisions historically, producing many of the sport’s greatest fighters. Willie Pep, Sandy Saddler, Salvador Sanchez, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, and Manny Pacquiao have all competed here. Currently an extraordinarily deep division.

Super Featherweight (130 lbs / 58.9 kg): Also called junior lightweight. Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, and many others have competed at this weight as part of multi-division careers.

Lightweight (135 lbs / 61.2 kg): One of boxing’s most historically important divisions, home to legends like Roberto Duran, Pernell Whitaker, and Julio Cesar Chavez. Currently features a competitive group of champions. Vasyl Lomachenko is considered the best recent lightweight.

Super Lightweight (140 lbs / 63.5 kg): Also called junior welterweight. Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have competed here. Currently one of boxing’s deepest divisions, with multiple talented champions.

Welterweight (147 lbs / 66.7 kg): Boxing’s most commercially significant division, producing many of the sport’s biggest stars. Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, and Oscar De La Hoya have all competed at welterweight. Currently the division is headlined by Canelo Alvarez’s historical wins and a group of talented active champions.

Super Welterweight (154 lbs / 69.9 kg): Also called junior middleweight. A division that has grown in significance as champions from multiple weight classes move through it. Canelo Alvarez began his championship career here.

Middleweight (160 lbs / 72.6 kg): The romantic center of boxing history. Sugar Ray Robinson is widely considered the greatest boxer who ever lived and was a middleweight. Marvin Hagler, Carlos Monzon, and Gennady Golovkin are among history’s legendary middleweights. Canelo Alvarez unified the division.

Super Middleweight (168 lbs / 76.2 kg): A relatively modern division (established 1984) that has become commercially significant as a home weight for Canelo Alvarez, who unified all four major titles and became undisputed champion.

Light Heavyweight (175 lbs / 79.4 kg): A prestigious division producing great champions across all eras: Billy Conn, Archie Moore, Bob Foster, Jose Luis Ramirez, Roy Jones Jr., Joe Calzaghe. Currently the division has interesting contenders as champions move between it and super middleweight.

Cruiserweight (200 lbs / 90.7 kg): A relatively modern division (established 1979) between light heavyweight and heavyweight. Evander Holyfield and Oleksandr Usyk both unified this division before moving to heavyweight.

Heavyweight (No upper limit): The most prestigious and historically significant division in boxing. Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, and now Oleksandr Usyk have all defined eras of heavyweight boxing. No boxing title carries more cultural weight than the heavyweight championship of the world.

Why Weight Classes Matter

Weight classes exist to create competitive fairness — larger, heavier fighters have significant physical advantages over smaller opponents. By separating fighters into divisions where they compete against similarly-sized opponents, boxing ensures that the best technical fighters can succeed regardless of their size.

The drama of multi-division championships — fighters like Pacquiao winning titles at eight weights, or Canelo moving up from 154 to 175 pounds to win titles — is heightened by the challenge of competing against larger opponents. The weight class system creates the narrative structure that makes boxing compelling.