Why weight divisions in boxing

Boxing 's 17 total weight classes span all the way from the diminutive pound dynamos to the , pound heavyweight monsters. Designed to limit the number of mismatches between opponents of different sizes, over the years the number of weight classes has grown from the original eight divisions flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, junior middleweight and heavyweight to the 17 divisions used today. In theory, this creates a safer environment for competitive boxing matches and offers a chance for fighters who would otherwise be a tad too small or a tad too large for one of the original divisions to become champions.

Here, Bleacher Report breaks down each weight class as it stands today, noting the historically great fighters who are lauded by historians as the division's best ever as well as the news-making fighters competing there today. Top Historical Fighters: Historians most often tab Mexico's Ricardo Lopez as the best minimum weight fighter of all time. His undefeated boxing career included a decade-long run as champion with 22 title defenses against heavy opposition.

Top Fighters Today: Converted muay thai boxer Knockout CP Freshmart is probably the best strawweight maurader on planet earth right now, and he's for sure the one with the coolest boxing nickname his given name is Thammanoon Niyomtrong.

Wanheng Menayothin and Byron Rojas are also top contenders in a division most popular outside the confines of the United States. Top Historical Fighters: Jung-Koo Chang was a hard-hitting, South Korean dynamo who ruled the s with an iron fist, while Michael Carbajal's superb technical skill and thunderous power punching against Chiquita Gonzalez in probably garnered the division newfound respect among mainstream boxing fans.

Both are equally revered in boxing circles as all-time greats. Top Fighters Today: Undefeated Japanese fighters Ken Shiro and Kosei Tanaka appear to be on the verge of making names for themselves in their homeland, while Mexico's Pedro Guevara remains a relevant alternative in a division most often associated with fighters from outside the United States.

He still holds boxing's longest win streak total at , and by the time he retired in , he was one of boxing's most beloved pugilists. At stark contrast was Mexico's Pancho Villa, who died at the tender age of 23 but solidified himself as one of the most talented fighters ever in just a three-year professional career.

Top Fighters Today: Today's flyweight division isn't what it was just a year or two ago, wth many of the top stars moving up in weight, but Japanese fighters Kazuto Ioka and Daigo Higa, alongside Filipino bottle rocket Donnie Nietes, still provide plenty of action-packed excitement for flyweight fans. Top Historical Fighters: The s were full of quality junior bantamweight bouts, and the cream of the crop was from Thailand. The heavily muscled Khaosai Galaxy defended his belt 19 times during that timeframe, and tough guy Gilberto Roman roved the division in a complementary manner to make the era one of the best in pound history.

Top Fighters Today: Today's junior bantamweight field is just as impressive. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai supplanted longtime little fighter kingpin Roman Gonzalez as the division's best, with the rugged Juan Francisco Estrada and "Little Monster" Naoya Inoue rounding out a field of four fighters as good as any in the sport today. Top Historical Fighters: Suffering only two losses in almost 80 fights, Brazilian bantamweight Eder Jofre usually tops historical lists at pounds.

His impressive power allowed him to amass 50 knockouts over the course of his career. Meanwhile, George Dixon, the first African-American man to hold a world title in the sport, was seen by his peers as the best fighter of the 19th century.

Top Fighters Today: Rising stars Ryan Burnett and Luis Nery are attempting to carve out their share of the championship pie before the inevitable invasion of Rungvisai, Inoue and Estrada make their jobs more difficult than ever. There are 17 weight classes in boxing, which are designed to set up fair contests between different fighters in the sport.

The fight class comes in at lbs, and then scales all the way up to the lb-plus heavyweights. The different weights make sure that boxers of all sizes are able to compete. Originally there were eight divisions for fighters, but that has been expanded with a further nine classifications. The strawweight division was brought in by the various sanctioning bodies between and , making it one of the newer classes in professional boxing. It had been introduced by the Olympic Games in under the Light Flyweight classification.

Ring Magazine finally recognised the decision in The weight limit was brought in at 99lbs when boxing was legalised in but this was ultimately withdrawn in by the New York State Athletic Commission. It was then reintroduced in the s by the WBC with the first championship won in , with other bodies joining in the certification. The flyweight division was established as the last of the eight traditional classes, with the first champion being crowned in by the British Boxing Board of Control.

Junior Bantamweight is one of the newest divisions, with the WBC holding its fight title fight for the class in It would be like if the NBA had different leagues for players of different heights. The fractionalized structure of boxing increases its perception as a niche sport. Boxing makes it a lot harder for casual fans to understand. To make matters more confusing, boxers are constantly moving up and down in the weight classes. For instance, boxing star Floyd Mayweather won championships in five different weight classes.

This kind of fluidity makes it even harder to judge the relative value of a championship. Instead, they call for making selective cuts to certain weight classes — primarily those at the lower end of the scale, where classes are often separated by as little as three pounds. The beginnings of the current version of the belt were initially created in by the Amature Boxing Association of England.

It was later modified and officially established by the National Sporting Club NSC in at the weight limit of lbs. Also known as junior middleweight. This division is considered to first have emerged in by the New York Walker Law, which was one of the most prominent American boxing legislation at that time. Subsequently, it was recognized by the Austrian Boxing Board of Control along with the European Boxing Union in at the weight limit of lbs.

The beginnings of the welterweight division trace back to England, , when the first created weight limit is believed to have been lbs. On March 29th, , American Paddy Duffy defeated Tom Meadows in a grueling battle and became what is believed to be the first welterweight champion of the world. Also created by the New York Walker Law in , the NBA officially recognized the super lightweight division in at a weight of lbs. The beginnings of the lightweight division can be traced all the way back to when introduced by the father of English boxing, Jack Broughton.

Any fighter at the time, weighing less than lbs, was considered a lightweight. After that, it was modified slightly by the ABA in and was finally established at the present weight limit of lbs by the NSC in This division was initially created by the New York Walker Law in at a weight of lbs. However, some records state that it may have first appeared in Europe around The featherweight division originated in the s under the London Prize Ring Rules, with a set weight limit of lbs.