Heavyweight is a weight class in and professional wrestling.
Boxing
Professional
Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation
and the World Boxing Organization.
In 2020, the World Boxing Council
increased their heavyweight classification to 224 pounds (102 kg; 16 st) to allow for their creation of the
bridgerweight division. The World Boxing Association (WBA) did the same in 2023.
Female boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by all four of the boxing federations.
Historical development
Because this division has no upper weight limit, it has historically been vaguely defined. In the 19th century, for example, many heavyweight champions weighed or less (although others weighed 200 pounds).
In 1920, the light heavyweight division was formed, with a maximum weight of . Any fighter weighing more than 175 pounds was a heavyweight. The cruiserweight division (first for boxers in the 175–190 pound range) was established in 1979 and recognized by the various boxing organizations in the 1980s with a maximum weight of either or . Later these organizations increased the cruiserweight limit to 200 pounds.
Since 1975, the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States and the Soviet Sports Committee established a new concept in international boxing, called "Heavy Duals," an all-heavyweight team contest between the United States and the Soviet Union.['Heavy' Date, AAU News, 1975, v. 45, p. 10.]
As of 2025, Wladimir Klitschko holds records of beating the most boxers for the world heavyweight title, with 23, and the longest cumulative heavyweight title reign of all time, with 4,382 days as world heavyweight champion. Joe Louis has won the most world heavyweight title bouts, with 27,[ and had the most consecutive title defenses, with 26. This is also the record for most consecutive title defenses in boxing history.][ Longest reigning boxing world champion]
Four boxers have regained the heavyweight title in an immediate rematch: Floyd Patterson in 1960, Muhammad Ali in 1978, Lennox Lewis in 2001, and Anthony Joshua in 2019. George Foreman holds the record for being the oldest heavyweight to ever achieve championship status, becoming champion at the age of 45, while Mike Tyson possesses the record for youngest heavyweight champion at 20. Tyson also became the first heavyweight to own all three major belts – WBA, WBC, and IBF as well as The Ring and lineal heavyweight titles at the same time.
Current world champions
Current world rankings
The Ring
As of February 26, 2025.
Keys:
- Current The Ring world champion
BoxRec
As of 22 December 2024.
Longest-reigning world heavyweight champions
Keys:
- Active title reign
- Reign has ended
- Note 1: WBA (Regular) champions are not included
- Note 2: WBO heavyweight title bouts before August 1997 are not included
[Several IBHOF inductees’ professional boxing records printed in the organization's official record books indicate that IBHOF did not recognize WBO as a major organization until at least August 23, 1997:]
-
IBHOF official record book, 1997 edition
-
Sugar Ray Leonard's opponent Thomas Hearns, who was defending the WBO super middleweight title against him on 12 June 1989, is not marked as World Champion
-
IBHOF official record book, 1999 edition
-
Sugar Ray Leonard's opponent Thomas Hearns, who was defending the WBO super middleweight title against him on 12 June 1989, is not marked as World Champion
-
IBHOF official record book, 2002 edition
-
Sugar Ray Leonard's opponent Thomas Hearns, who was defending the WBO super middleweight title against him on 12 June 1989, is not marked as World Champion
-
IBHOF official record book, 2006 edition
-
Sugar Ray Leonard's opponent Thomas Hearns, who was defending the WBO super middleweight title against him on 12 June 1989, is not marked as World Champion
-
Michael Carbajal's opponent Josue Camacho, who was defending the WBO junior flyweight title against him on 15 July 1994, is not marked as World Champion
-
Michael Carbajal's opponent Jorge Arce, who was defending the WBO junior flyweight title against him on 31 July 1999, is marked as World Champion
-
IBHOF official record book, 2011 edition
-
Sugar Ray Leonard's opponent Thomas Hearns, who was defending the WBO super middleweight title against him on 12 June 1989, is not marked as World Champion
-
Michael Carbajal's opponent Josue Camacho, who was defending the WBO junior flyweight title against him on 15 July 1994, is not marked as World Champion
-
Ricardo Lopez's opponent Alex Sanchez, who was defending the WBO minimumweight title against him on 23 August 1997, is marked as World Champion
-
Michael Carbajal's opponent Jorge Arce, who was defending the WBO junior flyweight title against him on 31 July 1999, is marked as World Champion
- Note 3: The names in italics are champions that did not win The Ring championship/lineal championship (August 29, 1885–July 2, 1921)/undisputed championship (July 2, 1921–present)
Combined reign
The list does not include
The Ring and lineal championship fights after 1921.
As of 23 December 2024.
Individual reign
Below is a list of longest reigning heavyweight champions in boxing measured by the individual's longest reign. The list includes both
The Ring and lineal championships. Career total time as champion (for multiple time champions) does not apply.
As of 23 December 2024.
|
|
| lineal |
| IBF (+WBA, WBO, The Ring/Lineal) |
| WBC-to-IBF (+ The Ring/Lineal) |
| lineal |
| lineal |
| lineal |
| The Ring/Lineal, (+WBA, WBC stripped) |
| lineal |
| WBC |
| WBC |
| NYSAC (+WBA, WBC) |
| lineal |
| lineal |
| WBC (+ The Ring/Lineal) |
| WBC (+IBF, WBA stripped, The Ring/Lineal) |
Amateur
The lower limit for heavyweight was established in 1948 at . A weight class named "super heavyweight" was established in 1984, and with it a maximum for the heavyweight division.
Kickboxing
-
In kickboxing, a heavyweight fighter generally weighs between . The fighters over are considered super heavyweights.
-
International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) Heavyweight (Pro & Amateur) .
-
In Glory promotion, a heavyweight division is over and no upper weight limit.
-
In ONE Championship, the heavyweight division has an upper limit of .
Mixed martial arts
The heavyweight division in MMA generally groups fighters between .
Heavyweight is also the title of a documentary film that documented the fight camp of Fabrício Werdum when he became the UFC Heavyweight Champion.
Wrestling
The term "world heavyweight" in modern wrestling generally refers to a champion wrestler who is seen as a prominent competitor, rather than an adherent to a particular weight class. The World Heavyweight Championship in wrestling is usually considered the main title in a given promotion. Prior to the wrestling industry publicly acknowledging the predetermined nature of the sport, a Heavyweight title was generally competed for by larger wrestlers while smaller wrestlers competed as (among other names and classifications) "Junior Heavyweights", "Cruiserweights" and "Light-Heavyweights". The lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre notably still has weight division for its champions. While most other promotions do not.
Analogous uses
The word "heavyweight" is sometimes used in other fields (
e.g. politics) to denote a person who is especially powerful or influential. Other boxing analogies include "punching above his their weight" to denote a person or entity (
e.g. a country) whose influence is arguably greater than his/its basic attributes would suggest.
External links
