 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 on August 18, 1899, in a fight billed as being for the light heavyweight championship.Choynski never seems to have made any claim to be the first light heavyweight champion, however.