Boxing Divisions
Division - Winners - Current Champions (by division)
Middleweight
Middleweight is another division or weight class in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. The first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1867.
The first middleweight fight with gloves may have been between George Fulljames and Jack Dempsey (no relation to the more famous heavyweight of the same name). Dempsey knocked out Fulljames on July 30, 1884.
In the modern era, middleweight means that the fighter's official weight does not exceed 160 pounds (73 kg). In practice, however, since weigh-ins take place usually 24 hours before the actual fight, many fighters show up at the actual ringside weighing more.
The current Middleweight Champion, Jermain Taylor, won a controversial upset victory in 2005 over Champion Bernard Hopkins, who had held the title since 1995.
Some notable middleweights:
- Stanley Ketchel
- Jake "Raging Bull" LaMotta
- Marvelous Marvin Hagler
- Carlos Monzon
- Thomas Hearns
- Tony Zale
- Roy Jones Jr. James Toney
- Gene Fullmer
- Carmen Basilio
- Randy Turpin
- Joey Giardello
- Dick Tiger
- Emile Griffith
- Nino Benvenuti
- Sugar Ray Robinson
- Sugar Ray Leonard
- Bernard Hopkins
- Rocky Graziano
- Jermain Taylor
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