Bantamweight

Bantamweight (118 lb) sits at the upper end of the 'sub-featherweight' classes and has historically been dominated by Latin American and East Asian fighters. The division was held undisputed by Japan's Naoya Inoue from 2022 to 2023 — the first undisputed bantamweight reign of the four-belt era — and is currently the cleanest contender ladder in the sport thanks to Inoue, Junto Nakatani, and the unified bantam champions all coming up via the WBSS tournaments.

Current world champions

wba

Takuma Inoue

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Junto Nakatani

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Ryosuke Nishida

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Yoshiki Takei

Alternate division names

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Bantamweight

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Bantamweight

ibf

Bantamweight

wbo

Bantamweight

Legends of the division

All-time top 2

1. 1.Naoya Inoue
2. 2.Junto Nakatani

Trivia

• ▸Brazil's Eder Jofre is widely regarded as the greatest bantamweight of all time; he retired with 78 fights, 50 KOs, and only two losses (both to Fighting Harada).
• ▸Naoya Inoue became undisputed bantamweight champion in only his 24th professional fight (2022).
• ▸Junto Nakatani's 2024 KO of Vincent Astrolabio launched him as the next pound-for-pound elite at the weight.