Championship recognition
1884–1910
Champions were recognized by public acclamation. A champion in that era was a fighter who had a notable win over another fighter and kept winning afterward. Retirements or disputed results could lead to a championship being split among several men for periods of time.
1910–1961
Championship awarding organizations
* The International Boxing Union (IBU), formed in
Paris in 1910. Changed name to
European Boxing Union
The European Boxing Union (EBU), formerly known as the International Boxing Union (IBU), is a pan-European governing body that sanctions championship bouts in professional boxing. The EBU governs the most-prestigious continental title in Europe, th ...
in 1946. It organised world title fights from 1913 to 1963 after which it was incorporated into the
World Boxing Council (WBC).
* The
New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC), formed in 1920. It organised world title bouts until the early 1970s when it became a member of
World Boxing Council (WBC).
* The National Boxing Association (NBA) formed in the United States in 1921.
* Other bodies including the
National Sporting Club
The National Sporting Club was a club founded in London in 1891, which did more to establish the sport of boxing in Great Britain than any other organisation.
Origins
The club was founded on 5 March 1891 as a private club. Its premises were at ...
in Great Britain and the
California State Athletic Commission also awarded world titles.
An Australian version of the world title which existed briefly between 1914 and 1916 gained considerable credibility because its holder,
Les Darcy, was widely believed to be best boxer in the world in this division.
1961–present
Championship awarding organizations
* The
World Boxing Association (WBA), founded in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA); it changed its name in 1961 and allowed membership from outside the United States.
* The
World Boxing Council (WBC), founded in 1963.
* The
International Boxing Federation
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
(IBF), founded in 1983.
* The
World Boxing Organization (WBO), founded in 1988.
List of champions
See also
*
List of Australian middleweight boxing champions
*
List of British middleweight boxing champions
List of British middleweight boxing champions is a table showing the boxers who have won the British middleweight title. The title has been sanctioned by the National Sporting Club since 1909, and later by its replacement the British Boxing Bo ...
*
List of British world boxing champions
This is a list of British boxers who have won a world championship by one of the four major sanctioning organisations–the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Or ...
*
List of New Zealand middleweight boxing champions
*
World Negro Middleweight Championship
*
World Colored Middleweight Championship The World Colored Middleweight Championship was a title awarded to black boxers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was the only recognized middleweight championship available to blacks prior to Tiger Flowers (5 August 1895 - ...
References
{{World boxing champions
Middleweight Champions
*
World boxing champions by weight class