In boxing, the light heavyweight is a weight division above 168 pounds [12 Stone or 76.204 kilograms] and up to 175 pounds [12.7 stone or 79.38 kilograms]), falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight. The light heavyweight class has produced some of boxing's greatest champions:Bernard Hopkins, Evander Holyfield, Tommy Loughran, Billy Conn, Joey Maxim, Archie Moore, Jonathan Oakey, Bob Foster, Michael Spinks, Dariusz Michalczewski and Roy Jones Jr. to name a few.

Many light heavyweight champions unsuccessfully challenged for the heavyweight crown until Michael Spinks became the first reigning light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight championship. Bob Fitzsimmons captured the light heavyweight championship after losing his heavyweight championship. Two all-time great heavyweight champions, Ezzard Charles and Floyd Patterson, started out as light heavyweights. Charles defeated Archie Moore and Joey Maxim several times in non-title bouts before becoming heavyweight champion and Patterson lost an eight-round decision to Joey Maxim before becoming heavyweight champion himself. Evander Holyfield successfully moved up from the light-heavyweight division to both the cruiser and eventually heavyweight divisions and became undisputed champion of both.

Roy Jones, Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American professional boxer. As a professional, he has captured numerous world titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. He is the only boxer in history to start his career as a light middleweight (154 lbs) and go on to win a heavyweight title.

Jones left his mark in boxing history when he won the WBA Heavyweight title, becoming the first former middleweight champion to win a heavyweight title in 106 years. Jones was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 1990s by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Jones won the 1984 United States National Junior Olympics in the 119 lb (54 kg) weight division, the 1986 United States National Golden Gloves in the 139 lb (63 kg) division and the 1987 United States National Golden Gloves in the 156 lb (71 kg) division. As an amateur, he ended his career with a 121–13 record.

Daniel Cormier (born March 20, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist and a former Olympic wrestler. He is currently signed to Strikeforce, fighting in the heavyweight division. Cormier is ranked #4 in the heavyweight division by Fight Matrix.

Cormier is the son of Joseph and Audrey Cormier. He has an older brother named Joseph and a sister named Felicia. When Cormier was seven, his father was shot and killed on Thanksgiving Day in 1986 by the father of his second wife.

He was a three-time Louisiana wrestling state champion in high school and high school All-American. In high school, Northside High School, he suffered only two losses after his freshman year, both coming in injury defaults. He had a 101–9 record during his high school career and was also an All-State performer in football. After high school he attended Colby Community College where he was a two-time junior college national champion. After Colby he transferred to wrestling powerhouse Oklahoma State University where he was an NCAA runner-up, losing to Cael Sanderson in the finals.

Dean Simon (born August 4, 1960) is a retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Dean Malenko. He is currently signed to WWE working as a road agent. He is best known for his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Considered by many to be one of the most technically gifted professional wrestlers of all time, Malenko's in-ring talents would earn him the nickname, "The Man of 1,000 Holds". He was also known as "The Iceman" for his cold and calculating demeanor.

In the WWF, he was a 2-time Light Heavyweight Champion. In WCW, he was a 1-time United States Champion, a 4-time Cruiserweight Champion and a 1-time World Tag Team Champion with Chris Benoit. In ECW, he was a 2-time Television Champion and a 1-time Tag Team Champion with Chris Benoit.

Malenko was born into a wrestling family, and his father Boris Malenko was a prominent wrestling figure. He started out as a referee in the Tampa area and even worked briefly as a referee for the WWF in the mid-1980s. He has wrestled all over the world and has spent much time wrestling in Mexico and Japan. He wrestled with his brother Joe from 1988 to 1992, forming a tag team, until his brother retired. On January 24, 1992, Malenko defeated "The Superstar" for the Suncoast Pro Wrestling (SPW) Southern title in Palmetto, Florida. Malenko defeated Jimmy Backlund for the ICWA Light Heavyweight title on March 12, 1992, in Tampa.

Takao Yoshida (吉田 貴男, Yoshida Takao^?) (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name TAKA Michinoku (Taka is written in all caps in Japanese script), is a professional wrestler who has wrestled all over the world as well he was a former Mixed Martial Artist. Michinoku is known in North America for his work for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) where he had the first ever WWF Light Heavyweight Championship reign recognized by the North-American promotion. Michinoku currently works as a freelancer in Japan, performing for promotions such as New Japan Pro Wrestling, Kaientai Dojo, Dragon Gate and Dramatic Dream Team.

Having held championship titles in Japan, North America, Mexico and Europe, Yoshida is known for his long title reigns. He held the FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Title for a combined duration of more than 15 months, the WWF Light Heavyweight Title for a then record-setting 10 months and the WEW Six-Man Tag Team Title for almost a year. Yoshida has held the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title, Michinoku Pro Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Title and Kaientai Dojo Strongest-K Title simultaneously for almost 10 months. During his reign, he has defended his titles against both AJPW and independent circuit talent to increase his base of opponents, and thus has increased the reach of the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title which was closed off to outside competition in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.