History

Although the junior middleweight class was one of the junior weight divisions created in New York by the passage of the Walker Law in 1920, there were no claimants to the title until 1963, when suddenly two fighters claimed the title: Ernile Griffith and Dennis Moyer.

Griffith became a middleweight soon after winning recognition as the European champion, so the championship lineage generally begins with Moyer.

The lists below include generally recognized champions, as well as champions of the National Boxing Association/World Boxing Association (NBA/WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF).

Some other champions recognized by New York (NY), Great Britain (GBR), Europe and the European Boxing Union (EBU) are also included, if they seemed to be genuine claimants and /or later won recognition from an international body.

Only those bouts are included in which the championship changed hands or the championships of two or more governing bodies was unified.

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Champions

Ernile Griffith (EBU) 1962-63
Dennis Moyer 1962-63
Ralph Dupas 1963
Sandro Mazzinghi 1963-65
Nino Benvenuti 1965-66
Ki-Soo Kim 1966-68
Sandro Mazzinghi 1968
Freddlie Little 1969-70
Carmelo Bossi 1970-71
Koichi Wajima 1971-74
Oscar Albarado 1974-75
Koichi Wajima 1975
Miguel De Oliveira (WBC) 1975-76
Jae-Do Yuh 1975-76
Elisha Obed (WBC) 1975-76
Koichi Wajima 1976
Jose Duran 1976
Eckhard Dagge (WBC) 1976-77
Miguel Angel Castellini 1976-77
Eddie Gazo 1977-78
Rocky Mattioli (WBC) 1977-79
Masashi Kudo 1978-79
Maurice Hope (WBC) 1979-81
Ayub Kalule 1979-81
Wilfred Benitez (WBC) 1981-82
Sugar Ray Leonard 1981-82
Tadashi Mihara (WBA) 1981-82
Davey Moore (WBA) 1982-83
Thomas Hearns (WBC) 1982-84
Roberto Duran (WBA) 1983-84
Mark Medal (IBF) 1984
Thomas Hearns 1984-86
Mike Mccallum (WBA) 1984-87
Carlos Santos (IBF) 1984-86
Buster Drayton (IBF) 1986-87
Duane Thomas (WBC) 1986-87
Matthew Hilton (IBF) 1987-88
Lupe Aquino (WBC) 1987
Gianfranco Rosi (WBC) 1987-88
Julian Jackson (WBA) 1987-90
Donald Curry (WBC) 1988-89
Robert Hines (IBF) 1988-89
Darrin Van Horn (IBF) 1989
Rene Jacquote (WBC) 1989
John Mugabi (WBC) 1989-90
Gianfranco Rosi (IBF) 1989-94
Terry Norris (WBC) 1990-94
Gilbert Dele (WBA) 1991
Vinny Pazienza (WBA) 1991-92
Julio Cesar Vasquez (WBA) 1992-95
Simon Brown (WBC) 1994
Terry Norris (WBC) 1994-
Vincent Pettway (IBF) 1994-95
Paul Vaden (IBF) 1995
Carl Daniels (WBA) 1995
Terry Norris (WBC) 1995-97
Terry Norris (IBF) 1995-96
Laurent Boudouani (WBA) 1996-99
Raul Marquez (IBF) 1997
Keith Mullings (WBC) 1997-99
Yori Boy Campas (IBF) 1997-98
Fernando Vargas (IBF) 1998-2000
Javier Castillejo (WBC) 1999-2001
David Reid (WBA) 1999-2000
Felix Trinidad (WBA, IBF) 2000-01
Oscar De La Hoya (WBC) 2001-
Fernando Vargas (WBA) 2001-02
Ronald Wright (IBF) 2001-
Oscar De La Hoya (WBA, WBC) 2002-03
Shane Mosley 2003-

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