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Light welterweight

Weight class in boxing and kickboxing

Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports.

Boxing

Professional boxing

In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, in which boxers weigh above 61.2kg or 135 pounds and up to 63.5 kg or 140 Ibs. The first champion of this weight class was Pinky Mitchell in 1922, though he was only awarded his championship by a vote of the readers of the Boxing Blade magazine.

There was not widespread acceptance of this new weight division in its early years, and the New York State Athletic Commission withdrew recognition of it in 1930. The National Boxing Association continued to recognize it until its champion, Barney Ross relinquished the title in 1935 to concentrate on regaining the welterweight championship.

A few commissions recognized bouts in the 1940s as being for the light welterweight title, but the modern beginnings of this championship date from 1959 when Carlos Ortiz won the vacant title with a victory over Kenny Lane. Both the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Council (WBC) recognized the same champions until 1967, when the WBC stripped Paul Fuji of the title and matched Pedro Adigue and Adolph Pruitt for their version of the championship. Adigue won a fifteen-round decision. The International Boxing Federation (IBF) recognized Aaron Pryor as its first champion in 1984. Hector Camacho became the first World Boxing Organization (WBO) champion with his victory against Ray Mancini in 1989.

Current world champions

Main article: List of world light-welterweight boxing champions

Sanctioning Body	Reign Began	Champion	Record	Defenses
WBA	March 1, 2025	Gary Antuanne Russell	18–1 (17 KO)	0
WBC	January 10, 2026	Dalton Smith	19–0 (14 KO)	0
IBF	December 7, 2024	Richardson Hitchins	20–0 (8 KO)	1
WBO	January 31, 2026	Shakur Stevenson	25–0 (11 KO)	0

Current world rankings

''The Ring''

As of January 31, 2026.

Keys: : Current The Ring world champion

Rank	Name	Record	Title(s)
C	Shakur Stevenson	25–0 (11 KO)	WBO
1	Dalton Smith	19–0 (14 KO)	WBC
2	Richardson Hitchins	20–0 (8 KO)	IBF
3	Alberto Puello	24–1 (10 KO)
4	Arnold Barboza Jr.	32–1 (11 KO)
5	Gary Antuanne Russell	18–1 (17 KO)	WBA
6	Sandor Martín	43–4 (15 KO)
7	Subriel Matías	23–3 (22 KO)
8	Adam Azim	14–0 (11 KO)
9	Lindolfo Delgado	23–0 (16 KO)
10	Andy Hiraoka	24–0 (19 KO)

BoxRec

Rank	Name	Record	Title(s)
1	Shakur Stevenson	25–0 (11 KO)	WBO & The Ring
2	Dalton Smith	19–0 (14 KO)	WBC
3	Keyshawn Davis	14–0 (10 KO)
4	Teofimo Lopez	22–2 (13 KO)
5	Richardson Hitchins	20–0 (8 KO)	IBF
6	Adam Azim	14–0 (11 KO)
7	Arnold Barboza Jr.	32–1 (11 KO)
8	Arthur Biyarslanov	20–0 (16 KO)
9	Ernesto Mercado	18–0 (17 KO)
10	Khariton Agrba	17–1 (9 KO)

Amateur boxing

In amateur boxing, light welterweight is a weight class for fighters weighing up to 64 kilograms. For the 1952 Summer Olympics, the division was created when the span from 54 to 67 kg was changed from three weight classes (featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight) to four. Perhaps the most famous amateur light welterweight champion is Sugar Ray Leonard, who went on to an impressive professional career.

Olympic Champions

1952 – Charles Adkins
1956 – Vladimir Yengibaryan
1960 – Bohumil Nemeček
1964 – Jerzy Kulej
1968 – Jerzy Kulej
1972 – Ray Seales
1976 – Ray Leonard
1980 – Patrizio Oliva
1984 – Jerry Page
1988 – Vyacheslav Yanovskiy
1992 – Héctor Vinent
1996 – Héctor Vinent
2000 – Muhammadqodir Abdullaev
2004 – Manus Boonjumnong
2008 – Felix Diaz
2012 – Roniel Iglesias
2016 – Fazliddin Gaibnazarov

Notable fighters

Saensak Muangsurin
Saoul Mamby
Tippy Larkin
Aaron Pryor
Carlos Morocho Hernández
Antonio Cervantes
Julio César Chávez
Oscar De La Hoya
Pernell Whitaker
Kostya Tszyu
Duilio Loi
Eddie Perkins
Erik Morales
Ricky Hatton
Manny Pacquiao
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Amir Khan
Juan Manuel Márquez
Nicolino Locche
Micky Ward
Arturo Gatti
Marijan Beneš
Danny García
Devon Alexander
Ruslan Provodnikov
Alexis Arguello
Timothy Bradley
Wilfred Benítez
Miguel Cotto
Terence Crawford
Julius Indongo
Paulie Malignaggi
Junior Witter
Josh Taylor

Kickboxing

In the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF), Super lightweight is 132.1 - 137 lbs or 60.04 - 62.27 kg, & Light welterweight is 137.1 - 142 lbs or 62.31 - 64.54 kg.

Lethwei

The World Lethwei Championship recognizes the light welterweight division with an upper limit of 63.5 kg. In World Lethwei Championship Antonio Faria is the Light welterweight Champion.

References

[http://ringtv.craveonline.com/ratings/jr-welterweight "Ring Ratings"] {{webarchive. link. (2015-11-15 . ''[[The Ring (magazine)). The Ring]]''. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
[http://www.wbanews.com/wba-champions "Current WBA Champions"]. [[World Boxing Association. WBA]]. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
"Hector Camacho vs. Ray Mancini - BoxRec".
"The Ring ratings: light welterweight".
"BoxRec ratings: super light, active".
(2007-04-03). "Boxing's Greatest Fighters: Sugar Ray Leonard - classic - ESPN". [[ESPN]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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