History

There was only one world boxing champion until the 1850s, when John Moneghan of Liverpool, England, began calling himself a lightweight and claimed to be the world champion.

The idea of a lightweight division was soon generally accepted and there were several bareknuckle champions in the class, though the weight limit was poorly defined, ranging anywhere from 130 to 150 pounds.

The last bareknuckle lightweight champion was Jack McAuliffe, who also became the first titlist under Marquis of Queensberry rules in 1886.

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), World Boxing Organization (WBO) 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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