List of world light-heavyweight boxing champions

Last updated January 11, 2025

This is a chronological list of world light heavyweight boxing champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations:

Championship recognition

1903–1910

The light-heavyweight division was created in 1903, the brainchild of Chicago journalist Lou Houseman who was also a boxing manager and promoter. He matched his own fighter Jack Root with Kid McCoy and announced the fight as being for the light-heavyweight championship of the world. The boxing press accepted the new weight division and Root was accepted as the inaugural world champion. Jack Root was defeated in his first title defense against George Gardner (boxer), who was considered the most thrilling fighter in the division, and the first undisputed Light - Heavyweight Champion of the World. During the 1980s, however, some boxing historians found records indicating that Joe Choynski won a twenty-round decision over Jimmy Ryan on August 18, 1899, in a fight billed as being for the light heavyweight championship. Choynski never seems to have made any claim to be the first light heavyweight champion.

The International Boxing Union (IBU), formed in Paris in 1910. Changed name to European Boxing Union 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 originally in 1911, banned in 1917, and then reformed in 1920. It organized 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 USA in 1921.

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 USA.
The World Boxing Council (WBC), founded in 1963.
The International Boxing Federation (IBF), founded in 1983.
The World Boxing Organization (WBO), founded in 1988.

Reign Began	Reign Ended	Champion	Recognition
World
1903-04-22	1903-07-04	Jack Root	World
1903-07-04	1903-11-25	George Gardiner	World
The light-heavyweight division was not recognized outside North America until the Gardiner-Fitzsimmons title fight of November 1903
1903-11-25	1905-12-20	Bob Fitzsimmons	World
1905-12-20	1905-12-20-Vacated	Philadelphia Jack O'Brien	World
1913-02-17	1914-06-15	Bob Moha	NYSAC
1914-04-14	1916-10-24	Jack Dillon	World
1916-10-24	1920-10-12	Battling Levinsky	World
1920-10-12	1922-09-24	Georges Carpentier	World
1922-09-24	1923-03-17	Battling Siki	World
1923-03-17	1925-05-30	Mike McTigue	World
1925-05-30	1926-07-16	Paul Berlenbach	World
1926-07-16	1927-07-27-Vacated	Jack Delaney	World
Delaney vacated the title to campaign in the heavyweight division.
1927-08-30	1927-12-12	Jimmy Slattery	NBA
1927-10-07	1929-07-18-Vacated	Tommy Loughran ^[1]	NYSAC
1930-02-10	1930-06-25	Jimmy Slattery	NYSAC
1930-06-25	1933-03-10	Maxie Rosenbloom	NYSAC
1932-03-18	1932-12-17-Stripped	George Nichols	NBA
Nichols was stripped of the title after losing a non-title bout to Lou Scozza.
Awarded the title	1933-03-01	Joe Knight	NBA
1933-03-01	1933-03-24	Bob Godwin	NBA
1933-03-24	1934-11-16	Maxie Rosenbloom	World
1934-11-16	1935-10-31	Bob Olin	World
1935-10-31	1938-10-28-Vacated	John Henry Lewis	World
Lewis retired due to failing eyesight.
1938-11-29	1939-02-03	Tiger Jack Fox	NYSAC
1939-02-03	1939-07-13	Melio Bettina	NYSAC
1939-07-10	1942-06-20	Len Harvey	EBU
1939-07-13	1940-06-05-Vacated	Billy Conn	NBA/NYSAC
1941-01-13	1941-05-22	Anton Christoforidis	NBA
1941-05-22	1941-11-14	Gus Lesnevich	NBA/NYSAC
1942-06-20	1946-05-14	Freddie Mills	EBU
1946-05-14	1948-07-26	Gus Lesnevich	World
1948-07-26	1950-01-24	Freddie Mills	World
1950-01-24	1952-12-17	Joey Maxim	World
1952-12-17	1960-10-??	Archie Moore	World
Moore was stripped of the NBA title for inactivity but retained the NYSAC and EBU versions.
1960-10-??	1962-02-09	Archie Moore	NYSAC/EBU
Moore was stripped of the EBU and NYSAC titles for inactivity.
1961-02-07	1962-05-12	Harold Johnson	NBA
1962-05-12	1963-06-01	Harold Johnson	World
1963-06-01	1965-03-30	Willie Pastrano	WBA/WBC
1965-03-30	1966-12-16	José Louis Torres	WBA/WBC
1966-12-16	1968-05-24	Dick Tiger	WBA/WBC
Title Split into WBA and WBC Belts
WBC
Title inaugurated
1963-06-01	1965-03-30	Willie Pastrano	WBC
1965-05-30	1966-12-16	José Louis Torres	WBC
1966-12-16	1968-05-24	Dick Tiger	WBC
1968-05-24	1974-06-17-Vacated	Bob Foster	WBC
1974-10-01	1977-05-21-Stripped	John Conteh	WBC
1977-05-21	1978-01-07	Miguel Angel Cuello	WBC
1978-01-07	1978-12-02	Mate Parlov	WBC
1978-12-02	1979-04-22	Marvin Johnson	WBC
1979-04-22	1981-12-19	Matthew Saad Muhammad	WBC
1981-12-19	1983-03-18	Dwight Muhammad Qawi	WBC
1983-03-18	1985-06-06-Vacated	Michael Spinks	WBC
1985-12-10	1986-04-30	JB Williamson	WBC
1986-04-30	1987-03-07	Dennis Andries	WBC
1987-03-07	1987-Vacated	Thomas Hearns	WBC
1987-11-27	1988-11-07	Donny Lalonde	WBC
1988-11-07	1989-Vacated	Sugar Ray Leonard	WBC
1989-02-21	1989-06-24	Dennis Andries	WBC
1989-06-24	1990-07-28	Jeff Harding	WBC
1990-07-28	1991-09-11	Dennis Andries	WBC
1991-09-11	1994-07-23	Jeff Harding	WBC
1994-07-23	1995-06-16	Mike McCallum	WBC
1995-06-16	1997-03-Vacated	Fabrice Tiozzo	WBC
1997-03	1997-03-21	Roy Jones Jr.	WBC
1997-03-21	1997-08-07	Montell Griffin	WBC
1997-08-07	2003-03-01-Vacated	Roy Jones Jr.	WBC
1998-03-21	2000-04-15	Graciano Rocchigiani	WBC (Restored Champion)
2003-04-23	2003-11-08	Antonio Tarver	WBC
2003-11-08	2004-05-15	Roy Jones Jr.	WBC
2004-05-15	2004-12-Stripped	Antonio Tarver	WBC
2005-05-21	2007-02-03	Tomasz Adamek	WBC
2007-02-03	2008-07-11-Stripped	Chad Dawson	WBC
2008-07-11	2009-06-19	Adrian Diaconu	WBC
2009-06-19	2011-05-21	Jean Pascal	WBC
2011-05-21	2012-04-28	Bernard Hopkins	WBC
2012-04-28	2013-06-08	Chad Dawson	WBC
2013-06-08	2018-12-01	Adonis Stevenson	WBC
2018-12-01	2019-10-18	Oleksandr Gvozdyk	WBC
2019-10-18	Present	Artur Beterbiev	WBC
WBA
Title inaugurated
1963-06-01	1965-03-30	Willie Pastrano	WBA
1965-03-30	1966-12-16	José Louis Torres	WBA
1966-12-16	1968-05-24	Dick Tiger	WBA
1968-05-24	1970-12-09-Stripped	Bob Foster	WBA
1971-02-27	1972-04-07	Vicente Rondon	WBA
1972-04-07	1974-09-16-Vacated	Bob Foster	WBA
1974-12-07	1978-09-15	Victor Galindez	WBA
1978-09-15	1979-04-14	Mike Rossman	WBA
1979-04-14	1979-11-30	Victor Galindez	WBA
1979-11-30	1980-03-31	Marvin Johnson	WBA
1980-03-31	1981-07-18	Eddie Mustafa Muhammad	WBA
1981-07-18	1985-09-21-Vacated	Michael Spinks	WBA
1986-02-09	1987-05-23	Marvin Johnson	WBA
1987-05-23	1987-09-05	Leslie Stewart	WBA
1987-09-05	1991-06-03	Virgil Hill	WBA
1991-06-03	1992-03-20	Thomas Hearns	WBA
1992-03-20	1992-Vacated	Iran Barkley	WBA
1992-09-29	1997-06-13	Virgil Hill	WBA
1997-06-13	1997-07-01-Vacated	Dariusz Michalczewski	WBA
1997-09-20	1998-07-18	Lou Del Valle	WBA
1998-07-18	2004-05-15	Roy Jones Jr.	WBA Super Champion
2001-12-22	2003-03-08	Bruno Girard	WBA Regular Champion
2003-03-08	2003-10-10	Mehdi Sahnoune	WBA Regular Champion
2003-10-10	2004-03-20	Silvio Branco	WBA Regular Champion
2004-03-20	2006-10-19-Retired	Fabrice Tiozzo	WBA Regular Champion
2004-05-15	2004-12-Stripped	Antonio Tarver	WBA Super Champion
2006-10-19	2007-04-28	Silvio Branco	WBA
2007-04-28	2007-12-16	Stipe Drvis	WBA
2007-12-16	2008-03-25-Retired	Danny Green	WBA
2008-07-03	2009-06-20	Hugo Garay	WBA
2009-06-20	2010-01-29	Gabriel Campillo	WBA
2010-01-29	2014-04-19	Beibut Shumenov	WBA Super Champion
2013-12-14	2016-10-01	Juergen Braehmer	WBA Regular Champion
2014-04-19	2014-11-08	Bernard Hopkins	WBA Super Champion
2014-11-08	2016-11-19	Sergey Kovalev	WBA Super Champion
2016-10-01	Present	Nathan Cleverly	WBA Regular Champion
2016-11-19	2017-09-21-Vacated	Andre Ward	WBA Super Champion
2017-09-23	2024-10-12	Dmitry Bivol	WBA Super Champion
2024-10-12	Present	Artur Beterbiev	WBA Super Champion
IBF
Title inaugurated
1984-02-25	1985-09-21-Vacated	Michael Spinks	IBF
1985-12-21	1986-09-06	Slobodan Kačar	IBF
1986-09-06	1987-10-29	Bobby Czyz	IBF
1987-10-29	1993-03-20	Charles Williams	IBF
1993-03-20	1996-11-23	Henry Maske	IBF
1996-11-23	1997-06-13	Virgil Hill	IBF
1997-06-13	1997-06-16-Vacated	Dariusz Michalczewski	IBF
1997-07-19	1998-02-06	William Guthrie	IBF
1998-02-06	1999-06-05	Reggie Johnson	IBF
1999-06-05	2003-03-01-Vacated	Roy Jones Jr.	IBF
2003-04-26	2003-11-08-Stripped	Antonio Tarver	IBF
2004-02-06	2004-12-Vacated	Glen Johnson	IBF
2005-03-04	2008-04-12	Clinton Woods	IBF
2008-04-12	2008-10-11	Antonio Tarver	IBF
2008-10-11	2009-05-27-Vacated	Chad Dawson	IBF
2009-08-28	2013-03-09	Tavoris Cloud	IBF
2013-03-09	2014-11-08	Bernard Hopkins	IBF
2014-11-08	2016-11-19	Sergey Kovalev	IBF
2016-11-19	2017-09-21-Vacated	Andre Ward	IBF
2017-11-11	Present	Artur Beterbiev	IBF
WBO
Title inaugurated
1988-12-03	1990-12-15-Vacated	Michael Moorer	WBO
1991-05-09	1994-09-10	Leeonzer Barber	WBO
1994-09-10	2003-10-18	Dariusz Michalczewski	WBO
2003-10-18	2004-01-17	Julio César González	WBO
2004-01-17	2009-11-Vacated	Zsolt Erdei	WBO
2009-11-13	2011-05-19-Stripped	Jürgen Brähmer	WBO
2011-05-19	2013-08-17	Nathan Cleverly	WBO
2013-08-17	2016-11-19	Sergey Kovalev	WBO
2016-11-19	2017-09-21-Vacated	Andre Ward	WBO
2017-11-25	2018-08-04	Sergey Kovalev	WBO
2018-08-04	2019-02-02	Eleider Álvarez	WBO
2019-02-02	2019-11-02	Sergey Kovalev	WBO
2019-11-02	2019-12-17 Vacated	Canelo Álvarez	WBO
2021-04-10	2022-06-18	Joe Smith Jr.	WBO
2022-06-18	Present	Artur Beterbiev	WBO

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References

↑ Nat Fleischer, Sam Andre, An Illustrated History of Boxing (Citadel Press, 2002) pp195-196

External links

Arnold, Peter (1989). Encyclopedia of Boxing. London: WH Smith Books. ISBN 1-85435-200-8.
World Title Lineages

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[1] Nat Fleischer, Sam Andre, An Illustrated History of Boxing (Citadel Press, 2002) pp195-196

[1]