History
Once upon a time, there were only two weight divisions in boxing, heavyweight and lightweight. The first boxer to call himself a middleweight was evidently Nat Langham of England, who began fighting in the 1840s.
There wasn't a real middleweight champion, though, until Tom Chandler beat Dooney Harris in a bareknuckle fight in 1867 to win the American title. Mike Donovan eventually became the champion before retiring in 1882, leaving the title vacant.
George Fulljames then claimed the championship, but he was knocked out by Jack "Nonpareil" Dempsey on July 30, 1884. That was the era between the old, bareknuckle London Prize Ring rules and the new Marquis of Queensberry rules, which called for gloves. Dempsey and Fulljames fought wearing heavy driving gloves as a kind of compromise, but Dempsey became the first modern champion with the victory.
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.
