MAJOR CHANGES – Olympic Boxing Weights Confirmed for Paris

The Olympic weight landscape is to change quite dramatically going into Paris 2024.

Six, rather than five, sets of medals will be up for grabs for female fighters as an extra female weight class has been added.

On the other hand, just seven podium places will be up for grabs for men from each competing country, as the number of male weight categories drops by one.

The number of weight classes has changed over the years, but the most recent lay of the Olympic land seen eight male and five female weight classes contested in Tokyo.

There were only three weight classes for women at the Rio Games, it was increased by two for the postponed 2020 Olympiad.

The switch-ups for 2020 saw featherweight and welterweight added for women, light flyweight and lightweight removed for men, and the men’s light welterweight limit dropping from 64kg to 63kg along with bantamweight increasing from 56kg to 57kg and becoming featherweight.

The Tokyo 2021 weight classes were as follows:

MALE:

• Flyweight (52kg)
• Featherweight (57kg)
• Lightweight (63kg)
• Welterweight (69kg)
• Middleweight (75kg)
• Light heavyweight (81kg)
• Heavyweight (91kg)
• Super heavyweight (+91kg)

FEMALE:

• Flyweight (51kg)
• Featherweight (57kg)
• Lightweight (60kg)
• Welterweight (69kg)
• Middleweight (75kg)

Going into Paris, an extra female weight has been added and a male weight lost.

A 54kg division will be slotted between flyweight and featherweight on the female weight list while welterweight now becomes light welter, with a 66kg category replacing the 69kg division that was contested in Tokyo.

Welterweight fighters are the ones to lose out after the changes to the men’s categories. The popular division is now gone. The heavyweight limit goes up a kilogram to 92kg while light heavyweights will have to weigh in at 80kgs instead of 81kgs. There are also slight alterations to the lightweight and flyweight limits. 75kg has also changed, becoming 71kg and light middleweight instead of middle.

The Paris 2024 weight classes were as follows:

MALE:

• Flyweight (51kg)
• Featherweight (57kg)
• Light Welterweight (63.5kg)
• Light middleweight (71kg)
• Light heavyweight (80kg)
• Heavyweight (92kg)
• Super heavyweight (+92kg)

FEMALE:

• Light Flyweight (50kg)
• Bantamweight (54kg)
• Featherweight (57kg)
• Lightweight (60kg)
• Welterweight (66kg)
• Middleweight (75kg)

Perhaps an even bigger change for Paris is a change in the number of fighters who will compete.

In Tokyo, 186 men will enter across the eight categories alongside 100 women in five categories.

The total number for Paris will be cut from 286 to 252 – and this will be split evenly across genders with 126 for each.

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It’s a huge move for women’s boxing, making qualification more attainable both in terms of weight and places – however, qualification now becomes even more difficult for men.