- Jack Root
Infobox_Boxer|name=Jack Root
realname=Janos Ruthaly
nickname=
weight=Light Heavyweight
nationality=Austria n/American
birth_date=birth date|1876|5|26|mf=y
death_date=death date and age|1963|6|10|1876|5|26|mf=y
birth_place=Fryhelge,Bohemia ,Czech Republic
home=
style=
total=87
wins=49
KO=28
losses=3
draws=5
no contests=2|Jack Root (
May 26 1876 –June 10 1963 ) was alight heavyweight champion and also fought for the worldheavyweight title. He fought out ofChicago, 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 Gardner 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 won a twenty-round decision over Jimmy Ryan onAugust 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. [Citation
last = Goldman
first = Herbert
title = Jack Root: The First World Light Heavyweight Champion?
journal = Boxing Digest
volume = 41, no. 7
page = 56, 57
date = August 1999]Heavyweight title fight
On
July 5 ,1905 , Root foughtMarvin Hart 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 duringWorld War I . After his time in the service Root became the president and boxing manager of the renownedLos Angeles Olympic Auditorium.External links
*
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
