Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling.

Boxing

Professional boxing

History

A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this limit fluctuated. The British have generally always recognized the limit at 126 pounds, but in America the weight limit was at first 114 pounds. An early champion, George Dixon, moved the limit to 120 and then 122 pounds. Finally, in 1920 the United States fixed the limit at 126 pounds.

The 1860 fight between Nobby Clark and Jim Elliott is sometimes called the first featherweight championship. However, the division only gained wide acceptance in 1889 after the Ike Weir–Frank Murphy fight.

Since the end of the 2000s and early 2010s the featherweight division is one of the most active in boxing with fighters such as Orlando Salido, Chris John, Juan Manuel López, Celestino Caballero, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Elio Rojas, Israel Vazquez, Cristobal Cruz, Rafael Márquez, Rocky Juarez, Steven Luevano, Naseem Hamed, Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao.

Current world champions

Current The Ring world rankings

As of August 16, 2025.

Keys:

1. Current The Ring world champion

Longest reigning world featherweight champions

Below is a list of longest reigning featherweight champions in boxing measured by the individual's longest reign. Career total time as champion (for multiple time champions) does not apply.

Lineal Champions

• Billy Murphy (1890-1891)

• Young Griffo (1891) Vacated

• George Dixon (1891-1897)

• Solly Smith (1897-1898)

• Dave Sullivan (1898)

• George Dixon (1898-1900) (2)

• Terry McGovern (1900-1901)

• Young Corbett II (1901-1902) Vacated

• Abe Attell (1903-1912)

• Johnny Kilbane (1912-1923)

• Eugene Criqui (1923)

• Johnny Dundee (1923–1924) Vacated

• Kid Kaplan (1925-1926) Vacated

• Tony Canzoneri (1928)

• Andre Routis (1928-1929)

• Bat Battalino (1929-1932) Vacated

• Henry Armstrong (1937-1938) Vacated

• Joey Archibald (1939-1940)

• Harry Jeffra (1940-1941)

• Joey Archibald (1941)

• Chalky Wright (1941-1942)

• Willie Pep (1942-1948)

• Sandy Saddler (1948-1949)

• Willie Pep (1949-1950) (2)

• Sandy Saddler (1950-1957) (2) Retired

• Hogan Bassey (1957-1959)

• Davey Moore (1959-1963)

• Sugar Ramos (1963-1964)

• Vicente Saldivar (1964-1967) Retired

• Johnny Famechon (1969-1970)

• Vicente Saldivar (1970) (2)

• Kuniaki Shibata (1970-1972)

• Clemente Sanchez (1972)

• Jose Legra (1972-1973)

• Eder Jofre (1973-1974) Abandoned

• Alexis Arguello (1975-1977) Vacated

• Danny Lopez (1979-1980)

• Salvador Sanchez (1980-1982) Died

• Eusebio Pedroza (1983-1986)

• Barry McGuigan (1986)

• Stevie Cruz (1986-1987)

• Antonio Esparragoza (1987-1991)

• Yong-Kyun Park (1991-1993)

• Eloy Rojas (1993-1996)

• Wilfredo Vazquez (1996-1998)

• Naseem Hamed (1998-2001)

• Marco Antonio Barrera (2001-2003)

• Manny Pacquiao (2003-2005) Vacated

Olympic champions

Men's

• 1904

• 1908

• 1920

• 1924

• 1928

• 1932

• 1936

• 1948

• 1952

• 1956

• 1960

• 1964

• 1968

• 1972

• 1976

• 1980

• 1984

• 1988

• 1992

• 1996

• 2000

• 2004

• 2008

• 2020

• 2024

Pan American Champions

• 1951 Francisco Núñez (ARG)

• 1955 Oswaldo Cañete (ARG)

• 1959 Carlos Aro (ARG)

• 1963 Rosemiro Mateus (BRA)

• 1967 Miguel García (ARG)

• 1971 Juan García (MEX)

• 1975 Dave Armstrong (United States)

• 1979 Bernard Taylor (United States)

• 1983 Adolfo Horta (CUB)

• 1987 Kelcie Banks (United States)

• 1991 Arnaldo Mesa (CUB)

• 1995 Arnaldo Mesa (CUB)

• 1999 Yudel Johnson (CUB)

• 2003 Likar Ramos Concha (COL)

• 2007 Idel Torriente (CUB)

Notable featherweights

• Everett Backer “Baker”

• Alexis Argüello

• Henry Armstrong

• Abe Attell

• Marco Antonio Barrera

• Kid Chocolate

• Luisito Espinosa

• Wilfredo Gómez

• Wilfredo Vázquez

• Naseem Hamed

• Paul Ingle

• Chris 'The Dragon' John

• Tom "Boom Boom" Johnson

• Kevin Kelley

• Derrick Gainer

• Kina Malpartida

• Juan Manuel Márquez

• Barry McGuigan

• Érik Morales

• Azumah Nelson

• Manny Pacquiao

• Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire

• Tommy Paul

• Willie Pep

• Sandy Saddler

• Calvin Grove

• Vicente Saldivar

• Salvador Sánchez

• Orlando Salido

• Miguel Ángel García

• Juan Manuel López

• Yuriorkis Gamboa

• Jeff Fenech

• Vasiliy Lomachenko

Kickboxing

In kickboxing, a featherweight fighter generally weighs between . However, some governing bodies have slightly different classes. For example, the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) featherweight division (professional and amateur) is between .

In Glory promotion, a featherweight division is up to .

In Bellator Kickboxing promotion, a featherweight division is up to .

In ONE Championship, the featherweight division limit is .

Bare-knuckle boxing

The limit for featherweight generally differs among promotions in bare-knuckle boxing:

• In Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, the featherweight division has an upper limit of .

• In BKB™, the featherweight division has an upper limit of .

Lethwei

International Lethwei Federation Japan has a featherweight division with an upper limit of . In International Lethwei Federation Japan, Thar A Thae Ta Pwint is the Featherweight Champion.

In World Lethwei Championship, the featherweight division has an upper limit of .

Mixed Martial Arts

In MMA, within the UFC company and most other MMA companies the featherweight range is from .

Current champions

These tables were last updated in July 2025.

Men:Women:

See also

• Boxing weight classes

• [[Reigning boxing champions#Featherweight (|Reigning boxing champions]]

References