Roberto Durán Samaniego is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: Lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight. Duran also reigned as the undisputed and lineal lightweight champion and the lineal welterweight champion. He is also the second boxer to have competed over a span of five decades, the first being Jack Johnson. Durán was known as a versatile, technical brawler and pressure fighter, which earned him the nickname "Manos de Piedra" for his formidable punching power and excellent defense.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler was an American professional boxer. He competed in boxing from 1973 to 1987 and reigned as the undisputed champion of the middleweight division from 1980 to 1987, making twelve successful title defenses, all but one by knockout. Hagler also holds the highest knockout percentage of all undisputed middleweight champions at 78 percent. His undisputed middleweight championship reign of six years and seven months is the second-longest active reign of the 20th century. He holds the record for the sixth longest reign as champion in middleweight history. Nicknamed "Marvelous" and annoyed that network announcers often did not refer to him as such, Hagler legally changed his name to "Marvelous Marvin Hagler" in 1982.
Vinny Paz, formerly Vinny Pazienza, is an American former professional boxer who held world titles at lightweight and light middleweight. The 2016 film Bleed for This is based on his comeback from a spinal injury. In 2022, he was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame.
Thomas Hearns is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra", and more famously "The Hitman", Hearns's tall, slender build and oversized arms and shoulders allowed him to move up over fifty pounds in his career and become the first boxer in history to win world titles in five weight divisions: welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight.
Alan Sydney Minter was a British professional boxer who competed from 1972 to 1981. He held the undisputed middleweight title in 1980, having previously held the British middleweight title from 1975 to 1976, and the European middleweight title twice between 1977 and 1979. As an amateur, Minter won a bronze medal in the light-middleweight division at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Giovanni "Nino" Benvenuti is an Italian former professional boxer and actor. He held world titles in two weight classes, having held the undisputed super-welterweight championship from June 1965 to June 1966 and the undisputed middleweight championship twice, from April to September 1967, and from March 1968 to November 1970. As an amateur welterweight boxer he won the Italian title in 1956–60, the European title in 1957 and 1959, and an Olympic gold medal in 1960, receiving the Val Barker trophy for boxing style. In 1961, having an amateur record of 120-0, he turned professional and won world titles in the light-middleweight division and twice in the middleweight division. Near the end of his boxing career he appeared in two Italian films, Sundance and the Kid (1969) and then in Mark Shoots First (1975).
Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight, is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports.
The CMLL World Middleweight Championship is a professional wrestling world championship promoted by the Mexican wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). While lighter weight classes are regularly ignored in wrestling promotions in the United States, with most emphasis placed on "heavyweights", more emphasis is placed on the lighter classes in Mexican companies. The official definition of the middleweight division in Mexico is a person between 82 kg (181 lb) and 87 kg (192 lb), but the weight limits are not strictly adhered to. As it is a professional wrestling championship, it is not won via legitimate competition; it is instead won via a scripted ending to a match or on occasion awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline.
A quadruple champion, also known as a grand slam champion, occurs in different sports when a competitor wins four crowns, titles, medals, belts or another distinction. The definition varies depending on the sport.
Joseph William Calzaghe is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including unified and lineal titles at super-middleweight, and the Ring magazine light-heavyweight title.
Gegard Mousasi is a Dutch mixed martial artist and former kickboxer, currently competing in Bellator MMA, where he is the former two-time Bellator Middleweight Champion. He is also the former DREAM Light Heavyweight Champion, former DREAM Middleweight Champion, former Cage Warriors World Middleweight Champion, and the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, thus making Mousasi an overall six-time MMA world champion. At the moment of his departure from the UFC in July 2017, he was #4 in the official UFC middleweight rankings, and he is currently ranked the #12 middleweight MMA fighter in the world by Fight Matrix.
Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán, commonly known as Canelo, is a Mexican professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in three of those weight classes and lineal titles in two. Álvarez is the first and only boxer in history to become undisputed champion at super middleweight, having held the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and Ring magazine titles since 2020, and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) titles since 2021.
Dmitry Yurievich Pirog is a Russian politician and former professional boxer. In boxing he competed from 2005 to 2012, and held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) middleweight title from 2010 to 2012. Although his career was cut short due to a debilitating back injury, he is one of the few professional boxers to win a world championship and retire undefeated.
The NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). The official definition of the middleweight weight class in Mexico is between 82 kg (181 lb) and 87 kg (192 lb), but is not always strictly enforced. For example, previous NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion Último Guerrero is billed as weighing 95 kg (209 lb). Místico is the current champion, he is the eighth champion overall and he is in his first reign.
Claressa Maria Shields is an American professional boxer and professional mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021; the undisputed female middleweight title from 2019 to 2020; and the unified WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles from 2017 to 2018. Shields currently holds the record for becoming a two and three division world champion in the fewest professional fights. As of October 2022, she is ranked the world's best active female middleweight by BoxRec, as well as the best active female boxer, pound for pound, by ESPN and The Ring.
Robert John Whittaker is a New Zealand-born Australian professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Middleweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Middleweight Champion. As of 12 September 2023, he is No. 3 in the UFC middleweight rankings.
Alex Sandro Silva Pereira is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and former kickboxer. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and a former UFC Middleweight Champion. He is the ninth fighter in UFC history to become champion in two different weight divisions and the first to become champion in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions of the organization. In kickboxing, he is a former Glory middleweight and light heavyweight champion, and is the first and only fighter to have held Glory titles in two weight classes simultaneously. Pereira also competed in promotions such as It's Showtime and SUPERKOMBAT Fighting Championship in kickboxing, and for Jungle Fight and Legacy Fighting Alliance in MMA. As of 20 February 2024, he is #4 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings. Pereira is the only known fighter to be a two-division world champion in MMA and kickboxing and is regarded as one of the greatest combat athletes of all time.
Israel Mobolaji Temitayo Odunayo Oluwafemi Owolabi Adesanya is a New Zealand professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and former boxer. As a mixed martial artist, he currently competes in the Middleweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former two-time UFC Middleweight Champion. In kickboxing, he is a former Glory Middleweight Championship title challenger. As of 23 January 2024, he is #2 in the UFC middleweight rankings, and as of 20 February 2024, he is #11 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.
