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During the 19th and again at the beginning of the 20th century, the popularity of boxing brought about the formation of weight divisions other than the heavyweight class to eliminate the handicap of smaller contestants’ having to concede excessive weight to their opponents. Some of these weight divisions originated in the United States, others in Great Britain.

Champions: WBO: Emanuel Navarrete, IBF: Josh Warrington, WBA: Leo Santa Cruz, WBC: Rey Vargas Bradley's top fighters in the division: 1. Navarrete 2. Vargas 3. Robeisy Ramirez, 4. Isaac Dogboe Fight I would like to see: Navarrete-Ramirez

Plusses: Ramirez is sort of the forgotten man. The 2012 U.S. Olympian arguably has the deepest professional resume of anyone here. He’s solid across the board. He can box, he has power and he has durability. He went down twice against Taylor but otherwise fought the Scot on roughly even terms.

This division deserves respect because its top fighters are not just talking -- they are fighting each other. The indicator for my statement is there are only three undefeated fighters in the ESPN top ten in the 115-pound division. Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez, Fernando Martinez, and Junto Nakatani still have their unbeaten records. I consider two fighters in the 7 division world champion in boxing as gatekeepers: Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Donnie Nietes. And, let me include the legendary Roman "Chocolatito." Gonzalez and another multi-division living legend Juan Francisco Estrada. The world should stop and watch the scheduled Dec. 3 trilogy between these two future hall of famers.

Fighters who announce that they are moving up or down to a new weight division will be ranked in the new weight class once they have fought and warrant being ranked. Besides that the fighters that currently own titles in two different divisions, will be ranked in both weight classes. So, the rankings are based on a fighter’s accomplishments in the weight division in which they are ranked.

These are the athletes developmental, and most delicate years. The number one priority of ABC Boxing is to ensure that are team members practice safe training methods. This group of athletes will be closely monitored throughout all training sessions. One hour of high intensity boxing training is sufficient for anyone in this program to improve their fitness and skill level. Our number one goal is the safety of our athletes. Our primary objective is to develop highly skilled boxers.

Who exactly did Duran beat at 135 who is anywhere even approaching all-time great status? He low-blowed Buchanan into submission–the ref was the deciding factor in that fight. He lost to DeJesus, who then lost to the heat as much as to Duran in their rematch, and was a full-blown cokehead by their final encounter. Who? I ask again–who did Duran beat at 135? Where the hell is this mythical legend bullshit coming from? I’m old enough to have seen everyone of any talent who’s fought since 1970 and Duran was not better than Pryor, Arguello, Whitaker, JC Chavez, Mayweather, or Lomachenko. Duran is perhaps the most overrated fighter ever. Who did he beat at 135???

In other instances, there will be rehydration clauses added to certain fight contracts. This means that a fighter cannot gain more than the pre-agreed weight before the bout and after they have officially weighed in.

The weight at which a boxer is considered a heavyweight fighter would be modified a handful of times in the following years, namely in 1920 by the New York Walker Law to 175+ lbs, 190+ lbs in 1979 by the World Boxing Council (WBC), and finally by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), International Boxing Federation (IBF), and World Boxing Association (WBA), together to the present day weight of 200+ lbs. Those on the heavier end of this scale may be called super heavyweights.

So what is Masters Boxing? and who can compete in this division? Masters boxing is an amatuer boxing division sanctioned by USA Boxing. To compete you must be 35 years of age or older, have never competed in any combat sport as a professional, and must be registered with an up to date USA Boxing Masters passbook and yearly physical. Those that are 45 years of age or older must also pass an exercise EKG also known as a stress test (the ekg is valid for 5 years). The process can sometimes be a challenge so we built this website to help guide you and hopefully answer any questions you might have. For a step by step guide on how to get your yellow USA Boxing Masters passbook, click on the link below.

Ultimately, boxing grew and evolved, so the Marquess of Queensberry Rules became the official rules of modern boxing, and it was then decided to assemble the original eight weight classes. The origin of Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight is pretty straightforward, but below middleweight is where some imaginative consideration came into play.

With the talent available to create a potential golden era for boxing, lightweight takes top place as boxing’s best division. Teofimo Lopez, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, and Gervonta Davis are all world class talents and if those fighters can keep each other busy over the next few years then boxing fans are in for a real treat.