Light heavyweight

Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight[citation needed] or light cruiserweight,[citation needed] is a weight class in combat sports.

Boxing

Professional

In professional boxing, the division is above 168 pounds (76 kg) and up to 175 pounds (79 kg), falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight.

The light-heavyweight class has produced some of boxing's greatest champions: Bernard Hopkins (who, upon becoming champion, broke the record for oldest man to win a world title), Tommy Loughran, Billy Conn, Joey Maxim, Archie Moore, Michael Moorer, Bob Foster, Ann Wolfe, Michael Spinks, Dariusz Michalczewski, Roy Jones Jr., Sergey Kovalev and Zsolt Erdei.

Many light heavyweight champions unsuccessfully challenged for the heavyweight crown until Michael Spinks became the first reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight championship. Bob Fitzsimmons captured the light-heavyweight championship after losing his heavyweight championship. Two all-time great heavyweight champions, Ezzard Charles and Floyd Patterson, started out as light heavyweights. Charles defeated Archie Moore and Joey Maxim several times in non-title bouts before becoming heavyweight champion and Patterson lost an eight-round decision to Joey Maxim before becoming heavyweight champion himself. Evander Holyfield successfully moved up from the light-heavyweight division to the cruiserweight division and eventually the heavyweight division and became undisputed champion of the latter two.

Current world champions

Sanctioning Body Reign Began Champion Record Defenses
WBA September 18, 2017 Dmitry Bivol 22–0 (11 KO) 11
WBC October 18, 2019 Artur Beterbiev 20–0 (20 KO) 5
IBF November 11, 2017 Artur Beterbiev 20–0 (20 KO) 8
WBO June 18, 2022 Artur Beterbiev 20–0 (20 KO) 2

Current world rankings

The Ring

As of June 20, 2023.

Keys:

 C  Current The Ring world champion
Rank Name Record (W–L–D) Title(s)
C vacant
1 Dmitry Bivol 21–0 (11 KO) WBA
2 Artur Beterbiev 20–0 (20 KO) IBF, WBC, WBO
3 Callum Smith 29–2 (21 KO)
4 Gilberto Ramírez 44–1 (30 KO)
5 Joe Smith Jr. 28–4 (22 KO)
6 Anthony Yarde 22–3 (21 KO)
7 Joshua Buatsi 17–0 (13 KO)
8 Dan Azeez 19–0 (13 KO)
9 Oleksandr Gvozdyk 19–1 (15 KO)
10 Michael Eifert 12–1 (4 KO)
BoxRec

As of 24 May 2022.

Rank Name Record (W–L–D) Points Title(s)
1 Dmitry Bivol 20–0 (11 KO) 591.9 WBA
2 Artur Beterbiev 18–0 (18 KO) 194.0 WBC, IBF, WBO
3 Callum Smith 28–1 (20 KO) 188.5
4 Gilberto Ramirez 43–0 (29 KO) 144.2
5 Joe Smith Jr. 28–3 (22 KO) 127.2
6 Maxim Vlasov 46–4 (26 KO) 70.65
7 Jean Pascal 36–6–1 (20 KO) 63.58
8 Marcus Browne 24–2 (16 KO) 58.90
9 Joshua Buatsi 15–0 (13 KO) 38.34
10 Sullivan Barrera 22–4 (14 KO) 29.16

Longest reigning world light heavyweight champions

Below is a list of longest reigning light heavyweight champions in boxing measured by the individual's longest reign. Career total time as champion (for multiple time champions) does not apply.

Name Title Reign Title Recognition Successful Defenses Beaten opponents Fights
1. Archie Moore 9 years, 4 months, 24 days NYSAC, NBA 9 7
2. Dariusz Michalczewski 9 years, 1 months, 8 days IBF, WBA, WBO 23 20
3. Gus Lesnevich 7 years, 2 months, 2 days NYSAC, NBA 5 3
4. Dmitry Bivol 6 years, 5 months, 1 week and 5 days WBA 11 11
5. Artur Beterbiev 6 years, 3 months, 2 weeks and 5 days IBF, WBC, WBO 8 8
6. Bob Foster 6 years, 0 months, 23 days WBC, WBA 14 13
7. Zsolt Erdei 5 years, 9 months, 27 days WBO 11 10
8. Adonis Stevenson 5 years, 5 months, 24 days WBC 9 9
9. Charles Williams 5 years, 4 months, 21 days IBF 8 8
10. Roy Jones Jr. 5 years, 2 months, 25 days WBC, IBF, WBA (Super) 11 11
11. Virgil Hill 4 years, 9 months, 15 days WBA 10 10
12. Maxie Rosenbloom 4 years, 4 months, 22 days NYSAC, NBA 7 6
13. Michael Spinks 4 years, 2 months, 3 days IBF, WBA, WBC 10 10
14. Battling Levinsky 3 years, 11 months, 19 days World 1 1
15. Victor Galindez 3 years, 9 months, 8 days WBA 10 7
Active Title Reign
Reign has ended

Amateur

In amateur boxing, light heavyweight is a weight division above 165 pounds (75 kg) and up to 178 pounds (81 kg), falling between middleweight and heavyweight.

Olympic champions

Kickboxing

  • In kickboxing, a light heavyweight fighter generally weighs between 77 kg (171 lb) and 82 kg (180 lb).
  • In International Kickboxing Federation (IKF), a light heavyweight division is 172.1 – 179 lb (78.3 – 81.4 kg).
  • In Glory promotion, a light heavyweight division is up to 95 kg (209 lb).
  • In Bellator Kickboxing promotion, a light heavyweight division is up to 95 kg (209 lb).
  • In ONE Championship, the light heavyweight division is up to 102.1 kg (225 lb).

Bare-knuckle boxing

The limit of light heavyweight generally differs among promotions in bare-knuckle boxing:

  • In Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, the light heavyweight division has an upper limit of 185 lb (84 kg).
  • In BKB™, the light heavyweight division has an upper limit of 95 kg (209 lb).

Mixed martial arts

In MMA, the light heavyweight division is from 186 lb (84 kg) to 205 lb (93 kg).


This page was last updated at 2024-03-10 13:35 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari