| Reign Began |
Reign Ended |
Champion |
Recognition |
| March 21, 1963 |
June 8, 1963 |
Luis Manuel Rodríguez |
WBA & WBC |
| June 8, 1963 |
December 10, 1965 |
Emile Griffith |
WBA & WBC |
- Emile Griffith relinquished the title after moving to the middleweight division.
|
| November 28, 1966 |
April 18, 1969 |
Curtis Cokes |
WBA & WBC |
- Cokes reunited the titles after defeating Jean Josselin.
|
| April 18, 1969 |
December 3, 1970 |
José Nápoles |
WBA & WBC |
| December 3, 1970 |
June 4, 1971 |
Billy Backus |
WBA & WBC |
| June 4, 1971 |
May 1975 |
José Nápoles |
WBA & WBC |
- Nápoles gave up the WBA belt after rematching Armando Muniz.
|
| September 16, 1981 |
February 15, 1982 |
Sugar Ray Leonard |
WBA & WBC |
- Sugar Ray Leonard unified his WBC with Thomas Hearns's WBA to become the first undisputed champ in seven years. Leonard later relinquished the title after retiring from boxing because of a detached retina.
|
| December 6, 1985 |
September 27, 1986 |
Donald Curry |
WBA, WBC & IBF |
- Donald Curry unified his WBA and IBF titles with Milton McCrory's WBC title to become the next undisputed champ.
|
| September 27, 1986 |
1987 |
Lloyd Honeyghan |
WBA, WBC & IBF |
- Honeyghan later relinquished the WBA title in protest at the body's approval of world title fights being staged in Apartheid South Africa.
|
| December 13, 2003 |
February 5, 2005 |
Cory Spinks |
WBA, WBC & IBF |
- Spinks won the undisputed title by unifying his IBF belt with Ricardo Mayorga's WBC and WBA belts.
|
| February 5, 2005 |
January 7, 2006 |
Zab Judah |
WBA, WBC & IBF |
- Judah lost his undisputed championship to Carlos Baldomir, but despite being recognized as the "true" welterweight champion, Baldomir did not pay the sanctioning fees for the WBA or IBF. Consequently, the WBA relinquished Judah as its champion, while the IBF continued to recognise him. Judah later lost the IBF title to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
|