page_title: Weight class (boxing)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Weight class (boxing) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Freddie Welsh (left) vs 'Mexican' Joe Rivers fighting in 1914 at Vernon, California. Both men Lightweight boxers were attempting to increase their claim to fight Lightweight World Champions Willie Ritchie.
context_page_description: In boxing, a weight class is a measurement weight range for boxers. The lower limit of a weight class is equal to the upper weight limit of the class below it. The top class, with no upper limit, is called heavyweight in professional boxing and super heavyweight in amateur boxing. A boxing match is usually scheduled for a fixed weight class, and each boxer's weight must not exceed the upper limit. Although professional boxers may fight above their weight class, an amateur boxer's weight must not fall below the lower limit. A nonstandard weight limit is called a catchweight.
context_section_description: In the early nineteenth century, there were no standard weight classes. In 1823, the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue said the limit for a "light weight" was 12 stone (168 lb, 76.2 kg) while Sportsman's Slang the same year gave 11 stone (154 lb, 69.9 kg) as the limit.
  Size mismatches were dangerous for the smaller boxer and unsatisfying for the spectators. National and world titles could only become recognised if standard weight classes were agreed upon. Important sets of weight classes were those specified in 1909 by the National Sporting Club of London, and those contained in the 1920 Walker Law which established the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC).
  After the split in the 1960s between the WBC and the WBA, the divisions were narrowed, creating more champions simultaneously, and making it easier for fighters to move between different weight divisions. Among the professional bodies, the names of the new divisions are not standardized between different sanctioning bodies, although the cutoff weights are.  These weights are specified in pounds, reflecting the historic dominance of Britain (and, later, America) in the sport.
caption: A boxing match in 1914 between Freddie Welsh and Joe Rivers in Vernon, California
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