Jack Root
Encyclopedia
Jack Root was a light heavyweight
Light heavyweight
In boxing, the light heavyweight is a weight division above 168 pounds [12 Stone or 76.204 kilograms] and up to 175 pounds [12.5 stone or 79.38 kilograms]), falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight...

 champion and also fought for the world heavyweight
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...

 title. He fought out of Chicago, Illinois.

Light heavyweight championship claim

Root (with the support of some historians) claimed that he was the first light heavyweight champion of the world. His bout with George Gardiner
George Gardiner (boxer)
George Gardner , was a famous Irish-born American boxer who was the first undisputed Light - Heavyweight Champion of the World. He held claims to both the World Middleweight Title as well as the World Heavyweight Title. Gardner is one of the biggest names in boxing history and one of the most...

 on July 4, 1903, is claimed by some to be the first title bout in the new division. Root contended that his manager, Lou Housman, created the division and billed the Root vs. Gardner fight, which Gardner won by knockout in the twelfth round. The fight was caught on film. Jack Root, George Gardner, and Bob Fitzsimmons all held the light heavyweight world championship title in 1903.

During the 1980s, however, some boxing historians found records indicating that Joe Choynski
Joe Choynski
Joseph Bartlett "Joe" Choynski was an American boxer who fought professionally from 1888 to 1904.-Boxing career:"Chrysanthemum Joe", the son of a Polish immigrant that settled in California in 1867, weighed no more than 176 lb throughout his career but regularly fought heavyweights. He was...

 won a twenty-round decision over Jimmy Ryan on August 18, 1899, in a fight billed as being for the light heavyweight championship. Chyonski never seems to have made any claim to be the first light heavyweight champion, however.

Heavyweight title fight

On July 5, 1905, Root fought Marvin Hart
Marvin Hart
Marvin Hart was the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion from July 3, 1905 to February 23, 1906.- Career :...

 for the vacant world heavyweight championship. The former champion, Jim Jeffries, had retired and declared that Hart and Root were the two top heavyweights. Jeffries refereed the fight to name the new champion, which Hart won by a twelfth-round knockout.

After boxing

Root served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. After his time in the service Root became the president and boxing manager of the renowned Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

Olympic Auditorium.
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