• Torpedo Billy Murphy (1890-1891)
• Young Griffo (1891 moves up in weight)
• George Dixon (1891-1897)
• Solly Smith (1897-1898)
• Dave Sullivan (1898)
• George Dixon (1898-1900)
• Terry McGovern (1900-1901)
• Young Corbett II (1901-1902, vacates title)
• Abe Attell (1903-1912)
• Johnny Kilbane (1912-1923)
• Eugene Criqui (1923)
• Johnny Dundee (1923 through August 1924, gave up title)
• Louis "Kid" Kaplan (1925, resigned title Jul 1926)
• Tony Canzoneri(1928)
• Andre Routis (1928-1929)
• Bat Battalino (1929- Mar. 1932, relinquishes title)

  ---

  1932-1937: title claimants include Tommy Paul, Kid Chocolate (resigned NBA title 1934), Freddie Miller, Baby Arizmendi, Mike Belloise, and Petey Sarron

  ---

• Henry Armstrong (1937-1938, vacates title)
• Joey Archibald (1939-1940)
• Harry Jeffra (1940-1941)
• Joey Archibald (1941)
• Albert "Chalky" Wright (1941-1942)
• Willie Pep (1942-1948)
• Joseph "Sandy" Saddler (1948-1949)
• Willie Pep (1949-1950)
• Joseph "Sandy" Saddler (1950-1957, retires 1/21/57)
• Hogan "Kid" Bassey (1957-1959)
• Davey Moore (1959-1963)
• Ultiminio "Sugar" Ramos (1963-1964)
• Vicente Saldivar (1964 retires October 14, 1967)
• Johnny Famechon (1969-1970)
• Vicente Saldivar (1970)
• Kuniaki Shibata (1970-1972)
• Clemente Sanchez (1972)
• Jose Legra (1972-1973)
• Eder Jofre [1973-1974, fizzles out]
• Alexis Arguello (1975-1977, moves up to Junior Lightweight)
• Danny "Little Red" Lopez (1979-1980)
• Salvador Sanchez (1980-1982, killed in car accident)
• Eusebio Pedroza (1983-1986)
• Barry McGuigan (1986)
• Stevie Cruz (1986-1987)
• Antonio Esparragoza (1987-1991)
• Yong-Kyun Park (1991-1993)
• Eloy Rojas (1993-1996)
• Wilfredo Vazquez (1996-1998)
• Naseem Hamed (1998 - 2001)
• Marco Antonio Barerra (2001-2003)
• Manny Pacquiao (2003-2005)