Marvin Hart vs. Jack Root

Hart floors Root in the 12th round.

Notes

Jim Jeffries, who had recently retired as World Heavyweight Champion, was the referee. Before the fight, he stated that the winner of Hart-Root was entitled to the title of heavyweight champion of the world.
The fighters split $5,000, with the winner getting 65 percent and the loser 35 percent.
There was a crowd of 5,000.
Root, who had defeated Hart by a six-round decision in 1902, was a 3 to 1 favorite.
Hart was floored by a right to the jaw in the seventh round.
Root was knocked out by a right to the stomach in the twelfth round.
Lou Houseman, Root's manager, called the knockout punch "a fluke."
Four days after the fight, Jim Jeffries was quoted as saying: "I do not wish the public to get the idea that I am trying to make Marvin Hart the champion. I am doing nothing of the sort. It is not for me to say who shall be champion. It might be well, however, for the public to consider Hart, say, as the champion pro tem. Put him on probation. This would stir up the now slumbering army of heavyweights and result in a number of hard-fought battles which would eventually establish the right of Hart or some other man to the championship honors beyond the question of a doubt."