Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. Brazilian jiu-jitsu has an equivalent Rooster weight.
Boxing The first gloved world title fight in this division was fought between George Dixon and Nunc Wallace on June 27, 1890, with Dixon winning and thus becoming the inaugural world bantamweight champion. At the time, the limit for this weight class was 110 pounds. In 1910, however, the British settled on a limit of 118.
From 2018 to 2019, an eight-man tournament called the World Boxing Super Series was held to determine the best bantamweight in the world. The tournament was won by Naoya Inoue, who defeated Nonito Donaire in the final.
On December 13, 2022, Naoya Inoue became the first undisputed champion of the division in the four-belt era.
Current world champions
Sanctioning bodyReign beganChampionRecordDefensesWBAJun 12, 2026Jesse Rodriguez24–0 (17 KO)0WBCNovember 24, 2025Takuma Inoue22–2 (5 KO)1IBFDecember 13, 2025José Salas17–0 (11 KO)0WBOSeptember 14, 2025Christian Medina27–4 (19 KO)1
Current The Ring world rankings
As of September 24, 2025.
Keys: Current The Ring world champion
RankNameRecordTitle(s)C1Seiya Tsutsumi12–0–3 (8 KO)2Christian Medina26–4 (19 KO)WBO3Ryosuke Nishida10–1 (2 KO)4Takuma Inoue20–2 (5 KO)5Daigo Higa21–3–3 (19 KO)6Antonio Vargas19–1–1–1 (11 KO)WBA7Yoshiki Takei11–1 (9 KO)8Tenshin Nasukawa7–0 (2 KO)9Jason Moloney27–4 (19 KO)10Jeyvier Cintrón13–1–0–1 (6 KO)
Longest reigning world bantamweight champions Below is a list of longest reigning bantamweight champions in boxing measured by the individual's longest reign. Career total time as champion (for multiple time champions) does not apply. Name Title reign Title recognition Successful defenses Beaten opponents Fights 1. Anselmo Moreno 6 years, 3 months, 26 days WBA 12 11 2. Veeraphol Sahaprom 6 years, 3 months, 17 days WBC 14 11 3. Orlando Canizales 6 years, 3 months, 16 days IBF 16 15 4. Shinsuke Yamanaka 5 years, 9 months, 9 days WBC 12 11 5. Tim Austin 5 years, 6 months, 26 days IBF 9 9 6. Hozumi Hasegawa 5 years, 14 days WBC 10 10 7. Panama Al Brown 4 years, 9 months, 28 days NYSAC, NBA, IBU 10 8 8. Naoya Inoue 4 years, 7 months, 13 days WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO 8 7 9. Eder Jofre 4 years, 6 months NBA, WBA, WBC 8 8 10. Manuel Ortiz 4 years, 4 months, 29 days World 15 11
Active Title Reign Reign has ended
Lineal Champions George Dixon (1890) Vacated
Jimmy Barry (1897–1899) Retired
Terry McGovern (1899) Vacated
Harry Harris (1901) Vacated
Harry Forbes (1901–1903)
Frankie Neil (1903–1904)
Joe Bowker (1904–1905) Vacated
Jimmy Walsh (1905–1909)
Jimmy Reagan (1909)
Monte Attell (1909–1910)
Frankie Conley (1910–1911)
Johnny Coulon (1911–1914)
Kid Williams (1914–1917)
Pete Herman (1917–20)
Joe Lynch (1920-21)
Pete Herman (1921) (2)
Johnny Buff (1921-1922)
Joe Lynch (1922-1924)
Abe Goldstein (1924)
Eddie Martin (1924-1925)
Charley Phil Rosenberg (1925-1927) Vacated
Al Brown (1931-1935)
Baltasar Sangchili (1935-1936)
Tony Marino (1936)
Sixto Escobar (1936-1937)
Harry Jeffra (1937-1938)
Sixto Escobar (1938-1939) (2) Vacated
Lou Salica (1940-1942)
Manuel Ortiz (1942-1947)
Harold Dade (1947)
Manuel Ortiz (1947-1950)
Vic Toweel (1950-1952) South Africa
Jimmy Carruthers (1952-1954) Retired
Robert Cohen (1954-1956)
Mario D'agata (1956-1957)
Alphonse Halimi (1957-1959)
Jose Becerra (1959-1960) Retired
Eder Jofre (1961-1965)
Masahiko Harada (1965-1968)
Lionel Rose (1968-1969)
Ruben Olivares (1969-1970)
Jesus Castillo (1970-1971)
Ruben Olivares (1971-1972) (2)
Rafael Herrera (1972)
Enrique Pinder (1972-1973)
Romeo Anaya (1973)
Arnold Taylor (1973-1974)
Soo-Hwan Hong (1974-1975)
Alfonso Zamora (1975-1977)
Jorge Luján (1977-1980)
Julian Solis (1980)
Jeff Chandler (1980-1984)
Richard Sandoval (1984-1986)
Jose Canizales (1986)
Bernardo Piñango (1986-1987) Vacated
Naoya Inoue (2022-2023) Vacated
Olympic Champions
1904: 1908: 1920: 1924: 1928: 1932: 1936: 1948: 1952: 1956: 1960: 1964: 1968: 1972: 1976: 1980: 1984: 1988: 1992: 1996: 2000: 2004: 2008: 2012: 2016:
World Champions
1974: Wilfredo Gómez (PUR) 1978: Adolfo Horta (CUB) 1982: Floyd Favors (USA) 1986: Sung-Kil Moon (KOR) 1989: Enrique Carrión (CUB) 1991: Serafim Todorov (BUL) 1993: Aleksandar Khristov (BUL) 1995: Raimkul Malakhbekov (RUS) 1997: Raimkul Malakhbekov (RUS) 1999: George Olteanu (ROU) 2001: Guillermo Rigondeaux (CUB) 2003: Aghasi Mammadov (AZE) 2005: Guillermo Rigondeaux (CUB) 2007: Sergey Vodopyanov (RUS) 2009: Detelin Dalakliev (BUL) 2011: Lázaro Álvarez (CUB) 2013: Javid Chalabiyev (AZE) 2015: Michael Conlan (IRL) 2017: Kairat Yeraliyev (KAZ) 2021: Tomoya Tsuboi (JPN)
Pan American Champions
1951: Ricardo Gonzales (ARG) 1955: Salvador Enriquez (VEN) 1959: Waldo Claudiano (BRA) 1963: Abel Almaraz (ARG) 1967: Juvencio Martínez (MEX) 1971: Pedro Flores (MEX) 1975: Orlando Martínez (CUB) 1979: Jackie Beard (USA) 1983: Manuel Vilchez (VEN) 1987: Manuel Martínez (CUB) 1991: Enrique Carrion (CUB) 1995: Juan Despaigne (CUB) 1999: Gerald Tucker (USA) 2003: Daniel Chyutin (CUB) 2007: Carlos Cuadras (MEX) 2011: Lázaro Álvarez (CUB)
European Champions
1924: Jean Ces 1925: Archie Rule 1927: Kurt Dalchow 1928: Vittorio Tamagnini 1930: János Széles 1932: Hans Ziglarski 1934: István Enekes 1937: Ulderico Sergo 1939: Ulderico Sergo 1942: Arturo Paoletti 1947: László Bogacs 1949: Giovanni Zuddas 1951: Vincenzo dall'Osso 1953: Zenon Stefaniuk 1955: Zenon Stefaniuk 1957: Oleg Grigoryev 1959: Horst Rascher 1961: Sergey Sivko 1963: Oleg Grigoryev 1965: Oleg Grigoryev 1967: Nicolae Gîju 1969: Aurel Dumitrescu 1971: Tibor Badari 1973: Aldo Cosentino 1975: Viktor Rybakov 1977: Stefan Förster 1979: Nikolay Chrapzov 1981: Viktor Miroshnichenko 1983: Yuri Alexandrov 1985: Ljubiša Simić 1987: Aleksandar Khristov 1989: Serafim Todorov 1991: Serafim Todorov 1993: Raimkul Malakhbekov 1996: István Kovács 1998: Serhiy Danylchenko 2000: Agasi Agaguloglu 2002: Khavazhi Khatsigov 2004: Gennady Kovalev 2006: Ali Aliyev 2008: Luke Campbell 2010: Eduard Abzalimov 2011: Veaceslav Gojan 2013: John Joe Nevin 2015: Michael Conlan 2017: Peter McGrail 2019: Kurt Walker 2022:
Kickboxing In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between 53 kg (116 lb) and 55 kg (120 lb). However, some governing bodies have slightly different classes. For example, the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) Bantamweight division (professional and amateur) is 117.1 lbs.–122 lbs. or 53.22 kg–55.45 kg.
In ONE Championship, the bantamweight division limit is .
Bare-knuckle boxing The bantamweight division limit generally differs among bare-knuckle boxing promotions: In Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, the bantamweight division has an upper limit of . In BKB, the bantamweight division has an upper limit of .
Lethwei In International Lethwei Federation Japan, the bantamweight division is up to . In International Lethwei Federation Japan, Yuta Hamamoto is the Bantamweight Champion.
The World Lethwei Championship recognizes the bantamweight division with an upper limit of . In World Lethwei Championship, Souris Manfredi is the Bantamweight Champion.
Mixed martial arts
In MMA, bantamweight is usually 126–135 pounds (57.2–61.2 kg). In ONE Championship, the bantamweight division limit is . In Shooto, the limit is 56 kg (123.4 lb).
Current champions These tables were last updated in December of 2025. Active title reign Active title reign (interim) Men: OrganizationReign BeganChampionRecordDefensesUFC December 6, 2025 Petr Yan20-5-0 (7KO 1SUB)0ONE Championship December 6, 2025 Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu14-3-0 (3KO 6SUB)0Rizin FF September 29, 2024 Naoki Inoue 20-4-0 (2KO 9SUB)2Absolute Championship Akhmat February 28, 2025 Josiel Silva23-7-0 (12KO 2SUB)1Brave Combat Federation November 7, 2025 Borislav Nikolić15-2-0 (6KO 8SUB)0Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki January 25, 2025 Sebastian Przybysz14-4-0 (1) (5KO 5SUB)1CFFC July 18, 2025 Sean Mora7-1-0 (1KO 2SUB)0Cage Warriors November 25, 2023 Liam Gittins13-5-0 (7KO 3SUB)2Pancrase December 24, 2023 Tokitaka Nakanishi12-4-0 (1KO 5SUB)0Jungle Fight June 24, 2023 Tiago Pereira9-0-0 (3KO 3SUB)3Legacy Fighting Alliance November 14, 2025 Artem Belakh11-2-0 (2KO 7SUB)0Shooto September 21, 2025 Kanata Nagai9-0-1 (3KO 1SUB)0Oktagon MMA N/A VacantN/AN/ADEEP March 29, 2024 Ryuka Fukuda25-9-1 (12KO 1SUB)1
Women: OrganizationReign BeganChampionRecordDefensesUFC June 7, 2025 Kayla Harrison19–1–0 (6KO 8SUB)0Invicta FC December 13, 2024 Jennifer Maia 23-10-0 (1) (4KO 5SUB)0CFFC July 18, 2025 Emily Martins 4-1-0 (0KO 4SUB)0Deep Jewels N/A VacantN/AN/ALegacy Fighting Alliance N/A VacantN/AN/AJungle Fight N/A VacantN/AN/AOktagon MMA August 9, 2025 Lucia Szabová 10-0-0 (3KO 5SUB)0
Muay Thai In Muay Thai, bantamweight is 115–118 pounds (52.2-53.5 kg). A notable Muai Thai bantamweight fighter is Randy Thong Phoun Phim.
Wrestling Wrestling also has similar weight classes including bantamweight.
See also Reigning boxing champions
References
External links
sv:Viktklass