Skip to main content
junior lightweight

junior lightweight

1 5.5
A boxing weight class for fighters who weigh no more than 130 pounds
  • noun
  • /ˈdʒuːniər ˈlaɪtweɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : peso ligero junior
  • Alberto Machado celebrated a remarkable victory in a junior lightweight world title fight last July against Rafael Mensah.
  • junior lightweight title
  • junior lightweight world

Examples

  • Gamache is preparing for a match to win the WBA junior lightweight title after improving his record to 24-0.

  • Hey, who's bright idea was it to keep him at junior lightweight, anyway?

  • More debutants can be seen at feather and junior-lightweight as Daud Yordan gate-crashed the former and Gamaliel Diaz the latter.

    Blog text (7)
  • The next boxing event will feature a thrilling junior lightweight bout between two rising stars in the sport.

How Heavy

welterweight
  • Specialized
19 5.9
junior welterweight
  • Specialized
1 7.2
lightweight
  • Specialized
5 3.5
junior lightweight
  • Specialized
1 5.5
featherweight
  • Specialized
4 5.8

Surface Forms

Morphology

junior + lightweight

The phrase is compositionally built: 'junior' indicates a lower or smaller category and 'lightweight' is itself a weight-class term, so together they clearly denote a lighter or subordinate variant of the lightweight division. While the exact numeric limit (130 lb) is specialist knowledge, the basic meaning 'a lighter weight-class than lightweight' is directly derivable from the constituents and would be understandable to learners who know both words.

Etymology

Junior lightweight comes from boxing naming: junior shows a 'smaller' form and lightweight is a 'weight class' for lighter fighters. So, junior lightweight means the smaller or lighter version of the lightweight group, the boxing division for fighters up to about 130 pounds.