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For the mixed martial arts division of the same name, see Middleweight (MMA)

Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1867. Chandler won, becoming known as the American middleweight champion.

The first middleweight fight with gloves may have been between George Fulljames and Jack (Nonpareil) Dempsey (no relation to the more famous heavyweight of the same name). Dempsey knocked out Fulljames on July 30, 1884.

In the modern era, middleweight means that the fighter's official weight does not exceed 160 pounds (73 kg). (In practice, however, since weigh-ins take place usually 24 hours before the actual fight, many fighters show up at the actual ringside weighing more.)

The current middleweight champion, Jermain Taylor, won a controversial split decision victory in July 2005, upsetting the defending champion, Bernard Hopkins, who had held the title since 1995. Taylor solidified his claim to the middleweight title by again defeating Hopkins in a December 2005 rematch, this time by another controversial, but unanimous decision.

Some notable middleweights have been:

• Bob Fitzsimmons, who was the first fighter - there have only been a handful since - to hold titles in three of the original eight divisions, and the first middleweight champion to capture the heavyweight title
• Stanley Ketchel
• Harry Greb
• Mickey Walker
• Rocky Graziano
• Tony Zale
• Jake "Raging Bull" LaMotta
• Sugar Ray Robinson, held the title a record five times
• Gene Fullmer
• Dick Tiger
• Emile Griffith
• Nino Benvenuti, world champion in 1967 and again from 1968 to 1970
• Carlos Monzon, who unified the title and defended it 14 times
• "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler, defended his title 12 times, first middleweight champion to hold all three sanctioning body belts
• Bernard Hopkins, defended his title a record 20 times, unified the titles

• 1904 –  Charles Mayer (USA)
• 1908 –  John Douglas (GBR)
• 1920 –  Harry Mallin (GBR)
• 1924 –  Harry Mallin (GBR)
• 1928 –  Piero Toscani (ITA)
• 1932 –  Carmen Barth (USA)
• 1936 –  Jean Despeaux (FRA)
• 1948 –  László Papp (HUN)
• 1952 –  Floyd Patterson (USA)
• 1956 –  Gennadiy Shatkov (URS)
• 1960 –  Eddie Crook, Jr. (USA)
• 1964 –  Valeriy Popenchenko (URS)
• 1968 –  Chris Finnegan (GBR)
• 1972 –  Vyacheslav Lemeshev (URS)
• 1976 –  Michael Spinks (USA)
• 1980 –   José Gómez (CUB)
• 1984 –  Shin Joon-Sup (KOR)
• 1988 –  Henry Maske (GDR)
• 1992 –  Ariel Hernández (CUB)
• 1996 –  Ariel Hernández (CUB)
• 2000 –  Jorge Gutiérrez (CUB)
• 2004 –  Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov (RUS)

• List of middleweight boxing champions