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Lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxers include Henry Armstrong, Ken Buchanan, Tony Canzoneri, Pedro Carrasco, Joel Casamayor, Al Davis (boxer), Al "Bummy" Davis, Oscar De La Hoya, Roberto Durán, Joe Gans, Artur Grigorian, Benny Leonard, Ray Mancini, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Juan Manuel Márquez, Sugar Shane Mosley, Miguel Ángel González (boxer), Miguel Ángel González, Carlos Ortiz (boxer), Carlos Ortiz, Katie Taylor, Edwin Valero, Len Wickwar, Pernell Whitaker, Manny Pacquiao and Ike Williams (boxer), Ike Williams. Current world champions Current world rankings =''The Ring''= As of May 14, 2025. Keys: : Current ''The Ring (magazine), The Ring'' world champion = ''BoxRec'' = As of May 19, 2025. Longest reigning world lightw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katie Taylor
Katie Taylor (born 2 July 1986) is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She was the undisputed and undefeated lineal world lightweight champion from 2019 to 2024, and has held the undisputed and lineal world super lightweight championship since 2023. Hugely popular in Ireland, she is credited with raising the profile of women's boxing at home and abroad, and is regarded as the outstanding Irish athlete of her generation. In her amateur boxing career, Taylor won five consecutive gold medals at the Women's World Championships, gold six times at the European Championships, and gold five times at the European Union Championships. She was the flag bearer for Ireland at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony before going on to win the gold medal in the lightweight division. Taylor turned professional in 2016 under Matchroom Boxing. After winning the WBA lightweight title in 2017 and the IBF title the following year, her unification victory over Delfi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benny Leonard
Benny Leonard (born Benjamin Leiner; April 7, 1896 – April 18, 1947) was an American professional boxer who held the world lightweight championship for eight years, from 1917 to 1925. Widely considered one of the all-time greats, he was ranked 8th on '' The Ring'' magazine's list of the "80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years" and placed 7th in ESPN's "50 Greatest Boxers of All-Time". In 2005, the International Boxing Research Organization ranked Leonard as the #1 lightweight, and #8 best pound-for-pound fighter of all time. Statistical website BoxRec rates Leonard as the 2nd best lightweight ever, while ''The Ring'' magazine founder Nat Fleischer placed him at #2. Boxing historian Bert Sugar placed him 6th in his Top 100 Fighters catalogue.Silver, Mike (2016). ''Stars of the Ring'', Published by Rowman and Littlefield, Los Angeles, pp. 57–62. Early life Benjamin Leiner was born and raised as a youth in the Jewish ghetto, located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New Yor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Buchanan
Ken Buchanan (28 June 1945 – 1 April 2023) was a Scottish professional boxer who competed between 1965 and 1982. He held multiple championships at lightweight; the World Boxing Association (WBA) and ''Ring'' magazine titles from 1970 to 1972; and the World Boxing Council (WBC) title in 1971, briefly reigning as undisputed champion until being stripped of the WBC title four months later. At regional level he held the British title twice in 1968 and 1973, and the European title from 1974 to 1975. Boxing career Early career Before turning pro, Buchanan was the 1965 ABA featherweight champion. He started boxing professionally on 20 September 1965, beating Brian Tonks by a knockout in the second round in London. He spent much of the early parts of his career fighting undistinguished opponents in England. His Scottish debut came in his 17th fight, when he outpointed John McMillan over 10 rounds on 23 January 1967. Prior to that, he had also beaten Ivan Whiter by a decision in ei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Gans
Joe Gans (born Joseph Saifus Butts; November 25, 1874 – August 10, 1910) was an American professional boxer. Gans was rated the greatest lightweight boxer of all time by boxing historian and The Ring (magazine), Ring Magazine founder Nat Fleischer. Known as the "Old Master," Gans became the first African Americans, African-American world boxing champion of the 20th century, reigning continuously as world lightweight champion from 1902 to 1908, defending the title 15 times against 13 other boxers. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. Life and career Early life Gans was born as Joseph Gant on November 25, 1874 in Baltimore, MD. He started boxing professionally in 1891 in Baltimore. Two fights in one day On January 7, 1895, after knocking out Samuel Allen in three rounds, Allen's second, Bud Brown, immediately challenged Gans. Not backing down from a fight, Gans accepted and outpointed Brown in a 10-round points decision. Title bouts On March 3, 190 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gervonta Davis
Gervonta Bryant Davis ( ; born November 7, 1994), also known by his nickname "Tank", is an American professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight title since 2023, having previously held the Regular version from 2019 to 2023. He also held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super featherweight title in 2017, the WBA super featherweight title ( Super version) twice between 2018 and 2020, and the WBA super lightweight title (Regular version) in 2021. Early life Davis was raised in the Sandtown-Winchester community in West Baltimore, one of the most crime-ridden areas of the city. His parents were drug addicts, and were frequently in and out of jail. Davis has one brother. He attended Digital Harbor High School, a local magnet school, but dropped out to focus on his career. He later earned his secondary degree through a GED program. Amateur career Davis has been training at Upton Boxing Center since he was five years old. Davis is traine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ike Williams (boxer)
Isiah "Ike" Williams (August 2, 1923 – September 5, 1994) was an American professional boxer. He was a lightweight world boxing champion. He took the World Lightweight Championship in April 1945 and made eight successful defenses of the title against six different fighters prior to losing the championship to Jimmy Carter in 1951. Williams was known for his great right hand, and was named to '' The Ring'' magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time as well as The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year for 1948.His trainers included Jimmy Wilson and Jesse Goss. His manager for much of his career was Frank "Blinky" Palermo, who was later strongly suspected of having ties to organized crime. Williams was also the Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year for 1948, was inducted into ''The Ring'' Boxing Hall of Fame (disbanded in 1987), and was an inaugural 1990 inductee to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Early life Williams was born in Brunswick, Georgia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pernell Whitaker
Pernell Whitaker Sr. (January 2, 1964 – July 14, 2019) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001, and subsequently worked as a boxing trainer. He was a four-weight world champion, having won titles at lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight, and light middleweight; the undisputed lightweight title; and the lineal lightweight and welterweight titles. In 1989, Whitaker was named Fighter of the Year by ''The Ring'' magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He currently holds the longest unified lightweight championship reign in boxing history at six title defenses. Whitaker is generally regarded as one of the greatest defensive boxers of all-time. As an amateur, Whitaker won a silver medal in the lightweight division at the 1982 World Championships, followed by gold at the 1983 Pan American Games and 1984 Olympics. After his retirement in 2001, Whitaker returned to the sport as a trainer. In 2002, ''The Ring'' ranked him tenth i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shakur Stevenson
Ash-Shakur Nafi-Shahid Stevenson (born June 28, 1997) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, from featherweight to lightweight, and has held the World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight title since 2023. As an amateur, he represented the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics, winning the bantamweight silver medal. Amateur career Stevenson began training for boxing under the guidance of his grandfather Wali Moses by age five and drew inspiration from Andre Ward. Stevenson had a very successful career at the youth level, winning the 2014 AIBA Youth World Championships and 2014 Summer Youth Olympics. In 2015, aged 18, he won the senior U.S. Olympic trials, thus qualifying for the U.S. boxing team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, Stevenson won a silver medal, losing to Robeisy Ramírez of Cuba in the gold medal match. He was the highest-medaling male boxer for the United Sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlos Ortiz (boxer)
Carlos Ortiz (9 September 1936 – 13 June 2022) was a Puerto Rican professional boxer. He held world titles in lightweight and light welterweight weight divisions. Along with Félix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Wilfredo Gómez, Héctor Camacho, José Torres, Edwin Rosario and Wilfred Benítez, Ortiz is considered among the best Puerto Rican boxers of all time by sports journalists and analysts. As of January 2018, Ortiz holds the record for the most wins in unified lightweight title bouts in boxing history at 10. In 1991, Ortiz was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. In 2002, Ortiz was voted by ''The Ring'' magazine as the 60th greatest fighter of the last 80 years. He held 21st place in BoxRec ranking of the greatest pound for pound boxers of all time. Boxing career Ortiz, born in Ponce, started his professional career in 1955 with a first round knockout of Harry Bell in New York City. He moved from Puerto Rico to New York before he began boxing as a pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artur Grigorian
Artur Razmikovich Grigorian (; born 20 October 1967) is a retired Armenian-Uzbek professional boxer. Grigorian is a former WBO lightweight champion. He defended his title against record-breaking 17 boxers, and held it for seven years, six months and twenty days; nearly as long as record holder Benny Leonard held his lightweight title (7 years, 8 months). Biography Grigorian was born on 20 October 1967 in Soviet Tashkent, Uzbek SSR to an Armenian family from Nagorno-Karabakh. He has a brother and sister. Amateur career Grigorian began boxing at the age of 11. He defeated Shane Mosley and won a gold medal at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle City. Grigorian won a silver medal at the 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships and competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. *1991 2nd place as a lightweight at the World Championships in Sydney, Australia. His results were: **Defeated Juan Carlos Saiz (Spain) PTS (26–18) **Defeated Julio Gonzalez (Cuba) PTS (15–12) **Def ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Canzoneri
Tony Canzoneri (November 6, 1908 – December 9, 1959) was an American professional boxer. A three-division world champion, he held a total of five world titles. Canzoneri is a member of the exclusive group of boxing world champions who have won titles in three or more divisions. Canzoneri fought for championships between bantamweight and light welterweight. Historian Bert Sugar ranked Canzoneri as the twelfth-greatest fighter of all time. Early life Canzoneri was born in Slidel, LA. By the time he was 11 in 1920, the family had moved to Johnston City, Illinois. In 1925, when he was 18, he lived in the Bedford–Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn (his occupation in the 1925 New York census is listed as "prize fighter"). The 1930 U.S. census shows the family in Marlboro, New York. In 1940 he was living on the Upper West Side, and the census indicates he had lived there since at least 1935. Although Staten Island claims him, no records seem to exist of his residence there. Staten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar De La Hoya
Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born February 4, 1973) is an American Promoter (entertainment), boxing promoter and former professional boxing, professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 list of boxing sextuple champions, world titles in six weight classes, including lineal championships in three weight classes. De La Hoya was nicknamed "The Golden Boy of Boxing" by the media when he represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics where, shortly after having graduated from Garfield High School (Los Angeles County, California), James A. Garfield High School, he won a gold medal in the lightweight division. He is regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time and is ranked the 16th greatest boxer by BoxRec. De La Hoya was named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year, ''The Ring'' magazine Fighter of the Year in 1995, and was its top-rated fighter in the world, The Ring magazine Pound for Pound, pound for pound, in 1997 and 1998. De La Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
