By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

The history of the 154 pound weight class, known as junior middleweight, was first installed in boxing by the World Boxing Association (WBA) in 1962. It is just between welterweight (147 lbs.) and middleweight (160 lbs.) by weight limit.

Denny Moyer / Joey Giambra

The inaugural WBA match was on October 20, 1962, Denny Moyer vs. Joey Giambra, with Moyer winning a fifteen round decision. No other boxing organization at that time gave recognition to this weight division. In those early years, the list of the first ten champions (in order) were Ralph Dupas, Sandro Mazzinghi, Nino Benvenuti, Kim Ki-Soo, Freddie Little, Carmelo Bossi, Koichi Wajima, Oscar Albarado, Joe Do Yuh, and Jose Duran.

Other champions of note to have held that sanctioned WBA version of the title, just to name a few of the top tier, are Sugar Ray Leonard, Davey Moore, Roberto Duran, Mike McCallum, Julian Jackson, Vinny Pazienza, Julio Cesar Vasquez, Pernell Whitaker, Felix Trinidad, Fernando Vargas, Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Winky Wright, Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Esrislandy Lara, Jermell Charlo, and current holder Terence Crawford.

For the record, the other three major governing bodies that began their 154 pound title recognition are the  World Boxing Council (WBC) in 1963, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) in 1984, and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) in 1988.

Boxing officially has seventeen major weight divisions which are Heavyweight (+ 200 lb), Cruiserweight (200 lb), Light Heavyweight (175 lb), Super Middleweight (168 lb), Middleweight (160 lb) Junior Middleweight (154 lb), Welterweight (147 lb), Junior Welterweight (140 lb), Lightweight (135 lb), Junior Lightweight (130 lb), Featherweight (126 lb), Super Bantamweight (122 lb), Bantamweight (118 lb), Super Flyweight (115 lb), Flyweight (112 lb), Junior Flyweight (108 lb), and Strawweight (105 lb).