Noel A. Muro

July 21, 2018

Not many people know what certain terms in boxing are.  Myself being one of them before, and many in the fighting business at one point in their lives.

I can’t go through every single term and rule, but the one thing people seem to ask most about is “what are the weights?” otherwise, what do they mean, and what are the belts about?

Well I will post a quick reference guide for all of you who need it and you can see what these weights and belts (titles, sanctioning bodies) mean.

The Belts

In a nutshell there are four main sanctioning bodies in the world of boxing, the IBF, WBC, WBA, and the WBO. These sanctioning bodies have different rules and regulations and have their own ranking systems that can mandate a champion to fight the next top contender for the belt.

The bodies will charge a percentage from fighters to sanction the fight if it is a title fight thus making the fight more appealing to viewers, fellow contenders, and champions.

There are other belts that are out there and the main four have versions of their title belts that are below the World Championship caliber.

Other helpful terms in relation to titles:

Unify- When a title holder fights another champion they will “unify” their titles.

Undisputed- When a fighter in a weight class wins and holds all four belts they become the “undisputed champion”.

The IBF (International Boxing Federation) World Championship Belt is red with white trim and gold.

Photo by; Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME

The WBA (World Boxing Association)  World Championship Belt is black with burgundy trim and gold.

Photo by Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME

The WBO (World Boxing Organization) World Championship Belt is burgundy with white trim gold/blue.

Photo by: Stacey Verbeek/Frank Warren

The WBC (World Boxing Council) World Championship Belt is bright green with gold.

Photo by Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME

Weight Classes

There are many more terms, rules and regulations out there and great sources of information available that you can go find and research.

This was created by request to help clarify some of the basic terms in boxing.  Hope this helps!