What are the Olympic boxing weight classes? Categories for Paris 2024 explained

The battle for Olympic glory in the boxing ring is underway at Paris 2024.

Overall there are 13 gold medals up for grabs in the French capital. This is the same number as at the Tokyo games but the distribution is different.

At the delayed 2021 event, there were eight men’s weight classes and five women’s divisions.

However, in line with the IOC’s aim of reaching full gender equality, there are seven men’s categories and six for women this time around.

So how does that all shake out? Allow the Sporting News to explain.

MORE: Olympic boxing results: Updated 2024 medal winners for every weight class at Paris Games

Olympic boxing weight classes at Paris 2024

Men

• Flyweight (51kg)
• Featherweight (57kg)
• Lightweight (63.5kg)
• Welterweight (71kg)
• Middleweight (80kg)
• Heavyweight (92kg)
• Super Heavyweight (92kg+)

Women

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

Changes to Olympic boxing for the Paris Olympics

The women's schedule has been bolstered by the addition of a bantamweight division, with the featherweight limit dropped slightly to 50kg from the 51kg it was in Tokyo. The female welterweight class has also been tweaked, from a 69kg limit to 66kg.

Men's boxing has effectively lost its light heavyweight division - the gold medal that Muhammad Ali famously won as Cassius Clay back in 1960.

Ljght heavyweight gold in Tokyo was contested at 81kg and the most notable change to account for its absence is the middleweight limit being lifted from 75kg to 80kg in Paris. The division below, welterweight, moves from 69kg to 71kg.

Other tweaks across the divisions mean the 57kg featherweight class is the only men's category unchanged from Tokyo.

When women's boxing entered the Games at London 2012, there were only three divisions contested with Nicola Adams (flyweight), and all-time greats Katie Taylor (lightweight) and Claressa Shields (middleweight) taking gold.

Those same three categories were up for grabs at Rio 2016, with Adams and Shields retaining their titles before the Tokyo expansion.