Boxing Weight Classes in Order: All 17 Divisions

Professional boxing has 17 weight classes, running in order from minimumweight at 105 lb (47.6 kg) up to heavyweight, which has no upper limit and starts above 200 lb (90.7 kg). Between those extremes sit the divisions most fans know — lightweight, welterweight, middleweight — plus a set of “super” and “junior” classes wedged in to keep the size gaps small.

The count of 17 surprises people who grew up hearing about eight classic divisions. Those eight still anchor the sport, but a century of added in-between classes filled out the ladder. Here is every division in order, with limits in pounds and kilograms, and how the naming actually works.

Every boxing weight class in order

The table lists all 17 divisions from lightest to heaviest, with the upper weight limit for each. The four major sanctioning bodies (WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO) recognise this ladder, each crowning its own champion per division.

Division	Weight limit
Minimumweight	105 lb (47.6 kg)
Light flyweight	108 lb (49.0 kg)
Flyweight	112 lb (50.8 kg)
Super flyweight	115 lb (52.2 kg)
Bantamweight	118 lb (53.5 kg)
Super bantamweight	122 lb (55.3 kg)
Featherweight	126 lb (57.2 kg)
Super featherweight	130 lb (59.0 kg)
Lightweight	135 lb (61.2 kg)
Super lightweight	140 lb (63.5 kg)
Welterweight	147 lb (66.7 kg)
Super welterweight	154 lb (69.9 kg)
Middleweight	160 lb (72.6 kg)
Super middleweight	168 lb (76.2 kg)
Light heavyweight	175 lb (79.4 kg)
Cruiserweight	200 lb (90.7 kg)
Heavyweight	No limit (above 200 lb / 90.7 kg)

The eight traditional classes, plus the fillers

The original core — flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight — dates back to boxing’s early codification. Everything else was added later to soften the jumps between them. A fighter who was too big for lightweight but gave away real size at welterweight now has super lightweight (140 lb) as a home.

That is why the ladder alternates between familiar names and “super” or “junior” variants. Super featherweight and junior lightweight, for instance, are the same 130 lb division under two labels; which name you hear depends on the sanctioning body and the region. The weight is identical either way.

Why the naming gets confusing

Boxing’s biggest quirk is that one weight can carry two names. “Super” attaches below a traditional class and “junior” above it, so:

• Super flyweight = junior bantamweight (115 lb)
• Super lightweight = junior welterweight (140 lb)
• Super welterweight = junior middleweight (154 lb)

Both names describe the exact same limit. American broadcasters have historically leaned on “junior,” while the WBC and much of the wider sport prefer “super.” It is a labelling difference, not a weight difference, and it trips up newcomers constantly.

The open division at the top

Heavyweight is the outlier. Every other class has a firm ceiling, but heavyweight has none — a boxer only needs to weigh more than the 200 lb cruiserweight limit to qualify. That open-ended design is unique to boxing among major combat sports; the UFC caps its heavyweight class at 265 lb, while boxing lets its biggest men weigh whatever they naturally carry.

Making weight in the lower divisions is its own discipline, and the harder a fighter squeezes toward a limit the more they rely on the weight-cutting tactics common across combat sports. The number of rounds a champion must survive at that weight is fixed too — our guide to how many rounds a boxing match lasts covers the 12-round title distance.

For a sense of the fighters who ruled these divisions, our list of the greatest boxers of all time spans champions from featherweight up to heavyweight, showing how skill translates across the whole ladder.

The short version: boxing has 17 weight classes from 105 lb minimumweight to an uncapped heavyweight above 200 lb, with “super” and “junior” divisions filling the gaps between the eight traditional classes — and the same weight often carrying two different names.