He first won the welterweight title at 137 lbs in 1891 and was never defeated at welterweight for 17 years, or if you include his 3 years of retirement before coming back: 20 years. He also moved up to middleweight and won the title at 158 lbs. He only has three losses on his record: 1. A DQ, 2. a loss to one of the best middleweights who also had success fighting HWs, 3. A fight at the end of his career after he had come back from a 3 year retirement. In summary, the guy fought over 23 years, being a world champion for 20 of them, being a two weight champion for most of them, and only having one legit loss to a guy who was much larger than him.
Besides the great accomplishments, his career is also interesting because when he won his first world title it was still the days of bareknuckles and endless rounds until a KO or retirement happened. One of his WW title fights lasted over 5 hours and he won by TKO in round 76. But shortly after fights started to limit rounds and implement 2oz and 4oz gloves, the predecessors to modern 8oz boxing gloves. In these early days of limiting rounds there were no standards for a typical number of rounds. Title fights were usually either 20 rounds or 25 rounds, but Ryan also had title fights that were 15 rounds. Also less commonly at this time title fights could be 10 rounds or 45 rounds. The fighter Battling Nelson was a lightweight champion from the time who was known for being highly durable and wearing down his opponents in 45 round wars.
Here is a clip of him in 1920 as a middle-aged man reflecting on his career and how boxing has changed since his youth:
Here is his full record: http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/31487
