Jimmy Wilde
Encyclopedia
Jimmy Wilde was a Welsh
world boxing
champion. He was the first official world flyweight
champion and was rated by American
boxing writer Nat Fleischer
, as well as many other professionals and fans including former boxer, trainer, manager and promoter, Charley 'Broadway' Rose, as "the greatest flyweight ever". Wilde earned various nicknames such as, "The Mighty Atom", "Ghost with the Hammer in his Hand" and "The Tylorstown
Terror".
) (now known as the Graig), Quakers Yard
, Treharris
, in the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil
but his parents later moved to the village of Tylorstown
in the Rhondda Valley
when Wilde was twelve years old. Wilde was the son of a coal miner, and worked in the coal pits himself. Wilde was small enough to crawl through gullies impassable to most of his colleagues. Wilde first fought at the age of sixteen in fairground boxing booths, where crowds were amazed by his toughness and ability to knock down much larger opponents, most of which were local toughmen weighing around 200 lbs. In 1910 Wilde married his wife Elizabeth and was a father the same year. He left Tylorstown Colliery in 1913. In 1916 Wilde joined the British Army
and was sent to Aldershot
as a PT instructor.
Ted Roberts in the third round.
Managed by Teddy Lewis, reserve captain of local rugby
club, Pontypridd RFC
, Wilde went undefeated in 103 bouts, all of which were held in Britain
, a remarkable achievement. In the middle of that streak, on 31 December 1912, he won the British 7 stone championship by beating Billy Padden by an eighteenth-round knockout in Glasgow. He finally lost his undefeated record when he challenged Tancy Lee for the vacant British flyweight title and Europe
championship on 15 January 1915 in London. Wilde was knocked out in the seventeenth round (of twenty).
Wilde then embarked on a sixteen-fight knockout streak, and on 14 February 1916, he won the British flyweight title by beating Joe Symonds by a knockout in round twelve at the National Sporting Club
in London. On 24 April 1916 Wilde beat Johnny Rosner by a knockout in the eleventh round at Liverpool Stadium
to win the IBU
world flyweight title. On 13 May he had two fights on the same day at Woolwich
Dockyard (against Darkey Saunders and Joe Magnus), winning both by knockout, both fights combined lasting less than five rounds. On 26 June Wilde returned to the National Sporting Club to take his revenge on Tancy Lee with an eleventh-round knockout. On 18 December Wilde became recognised as the first World Flyweight Champion (the IBU title was only recognised in Europe) when he defeated Young Zulu Kid of the United States whose seconds threw in the towel during the eleventh round of their bout at the Holborn
Stadium.
In 1917, he retained the title by beating George Clarke by a knockout in four. With that win, he also won the European title and recovered the British title. But that would be his last title defence, as soon he decided to vacate the world title. He kept fighting and winning, and in 1919, he beat Joe Lynch
, another boxer who was a world champion, by decision in 15. In 1920 he went undefeated in 10 fights, but then, he lost by a knockout in 17 to former world bantamweight champion Pete Herman
, who outweighed Wilde by more than a stone (14 pounds), in 1921. The bout was originally scheduled as a title defence, but Herman had lost his championship to Lynch the month before. Herman easily regained the bantamweight title from Lynch in July 1921, leading some to suspect that he had left the title behind with Lynch in America intentionally. That was the fight that marked his return to Britain after touring the United States all of 1920. After a win over Young Jennings, he announced his retirement.
Wilde returned to the ring out of a sense of obligation to defend his title against Pancho Villa
on 18 June 1923. After losing by a knockout in seven to the Philippines
' first world champion, Wilde announced his retirement.
district of Barry, South Wales. With his final boxing winnings, Wilde entered into several business schemes, including a Welsh cinema chain and partnership in a cafe at 5 Western Shelter, Barry Island that was named 'The Mighty Atom' cafe. None was successful and he spent his final years in poverty. In 1965, Wilde suffered a serious mugging at a train station in Cardiff
, from which he never recovered. His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1967, and two years later Wilde died in a hospital in Whitchurch
. He was buried in Barry Cemetery.
In 1990, Wilde was elected into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame
as a member of that institution's original class. In 1992 he was also inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame
and one of his prize winning belts is part of the organisation's display.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
world boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
champion. He was the first official world flyweight
Flyweight
Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing less than 112 lb but above 108 lb .-Professional boxing:...
champion and was rated by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
boxing writer Nat Fleischer
Nat Fleischer
Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer was a noted American boxing writer and collector. Fleischer inaugurated in 1922, encouraged by Tex Rickard, the Ring Magazine publication...
, as well as many other professionals and fans including former boxer, trainer, manager and promoter, Charley 'Broadway' Rose, as "the greatest flyweight ever". Wilde earned various nicknames such as, "The Mighty Atom", "Ghost with the Hammer in his Hand" and "The Tylorstown
Tylorstown
Tylorstown is a village located in the Rhondda valley, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It was founded by Alfred Tylor who set up an early coal mining operation in the location in the mid-19th century....
Terror".
Early years
Jimmy Wilde's birth certificate shows he was born in the Taff Bargoed Valley community of Pentwyn DeintyrPentwyn Deintyr
Pentwyn Deintyr is a small Welsh community between Quakers Yard and Nelson, Caerphilly.The name Pentwyn Deintyr is a link with the early woollen industry in the district....
) (now known as the Graig), Quakers Yard
Quakers Yard
Quakers Yard is a village in the Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, situated where the Taff Bargoed Valley joins the Taff Valley. Quakers Yard is part of the community of Treharris.-History:...
, Treharris
Treharris
Treharris is a small town and community in the Taff Bargoed Valley in the south of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. It is located around 1 km west of Trelewis, from which it is separated by the Taff Bargoed river, and 1.5 km from Nelson in Caerphilly county borough and...
, in the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
but his parents later moved to the village of Tylorstown
Tylorstown
Tylorstown is a village located in the Rhondda valley, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It was founded by Alfred Tylor who set up an early coal mining operation in the location in the mid-19th century....
in the Rhondda Valley
Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...
when Wilde was twelve years old. Wilde was the son of a coal miner, and worked in the coal pits himself. Wilde was small enough to crawl through gullies impassable to most of his colleagues. Wilde first fought at the age of sixteen in fairground boxing booths, where crowds were amazed by his toughness and ability to knock down much larger opponents, most of which were local toughmen weighing around 200 lbs. In 1910 Wilde married his wife Elizabeth and was a father the same year. He left Tylorstown Colliery in 1913. In 1916 Wilde joined the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and was sent to Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
as a PT instructor.
Professional career
The record books often show that Wilde started boxing professionally in 1911 but it is widely assumed that he had been fighting professionally for at least four years before that. Wilde's claim that he had at least 800 fights is probably greatly exaggerated, but it was rather more than the 144 shown in Boxrec and elsewhere. Wilde's officially listed debut was on 26 December 1910, when he fought Les Williams to a no-decision in three rounds. His first win came on 1 January 1911, when he knocked outKnockout
A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
Ted Roberts in the third round.
Managed by Teddy Lewis, reserve captain of local rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
club, Pontypridd RFC
Pontypridd RFC
Pontypridd Rugby Football Club, known as Ponty, are a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, currently playing in the British and Irish Cup, Principality Premiership, and are the current SWALEC Cup champions....
, Wilde went undefeated in 103 bouts, all of which were held in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, a remarkable achievement. In the middle of that streak, on 31 December 1912, he won the British 7 stone championship by beating Billy Padden by an eighteenth-round knockout in Glasgow. He finally lost his undefeated record when he challenged Tancy Lee for the vacant British flyweight title and Europe
European Boxing Union
The European Boxing Union is an organization that oversees competition in that sport over the continent of Europe.-History:The EBU started life as the International Boxing Union in Paris in 1910...
championship on 15 January 1915 in London. Wilde was knocked out in the seventeenth round (of twenty).
Wilde then embarked on a sixteen-fight knockout streak, and on 14 February 1916, he won the British flyweight title by beating Joe Symonds by a knockout in round twelve at the National Sporting Club
National Sporting Club
The National Sporting Club was a club founded in London in 1891, which did more to establish the sport of boxing in Great Britain than any other organisation.-Origins:...
in London. On 24 April 1916 Wilde beat Johnny Rosner by a knockout in the eleventh round at Liverpool Stadium
Liverpool Stadium
Liverpool Stadium was a stadium in Liverpool, England. It hosted many different events including boxing, wrestling, concerts, and political hustings.-External links:**-Bibliography:*Curley, Mallory...
to win the IBU
International Boxing Union
The International Boxing Union was created June 1911 in Paris, France. It was an attempt to create a unified international governing body for professional boxing...
world flyweight title. On 13 May he had two fights on the same day at Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
Dockyard (against Darkey Saunders and Joe Magnus), winning both by knockout, both fights combined lasting less than five rounds. On 26 June Wilde returned to the National Sporting Club to take his revenge on Tancy Lee with an eleventh-round knockout. On 18 December Wilde became recognised as the first World Flyweight Champion (the IBU title was only recognised in Europe) when he defeated Young Zulu Kid of the United States whose seconds threw in the towel during the eleventh round of their bout at the Holborn
Holborn
Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...
Stadium.
In 1917, he retained the title by beating George Clarke by a knockout in four. With that win, he also won the European title and recovered the British title. But that would be his last title defence, as soon he decided to vacate the world title. He kept fighting and winning, and in 1919, he beat Joe Lynch
Joe Lynch (boxer)
Joseph Aloysius Lynch was an American Bantamweight boxer.-Pro career:He won the world title at that weight in 1920, defeating Pete Herman. Herman defeated him to regain the title the following year...
, another boxer who was a world champion, by decision in 15. In 1920 he went undefeated in 10 fights, but then, he lost by a knockout in 17 to former world bantamweight champion Pete Herman
Pete Herman
Pete Herman was one of the all time great bantamweight world champions. An Italian-American, Herman was born Peter Gulotta in New Orleans, Louisiana, and fought from 1912 until 1922...
, who outweighed Wilde by more than a stone (14 pounds), in 1921. The bout was originally scheduled as a title defence, but Herman had lost his championship to Lynch the month before. Herman easily regained the bantamweight title from Lynch in July 1921, leading some to suspect that he had left the title behind with Lynch in America intentionally. That was the fight that marked his return to Britain after touring the United States all of 1920. After a win over Young Jennings, he announced his retirement.
Wilde returned to the ring out of a sense of obligation to defend his title against Pancho Villa
Francisco Guilledo
Francisco Guilledo , more commonly known as Pancho Villa, was a Filipino boxer. Villa, who stood only 5 feet and 1 inch tall and never weighed more than 114 pounds , rose from obscurity to win the World Flyweight boxing championship in 1923, earning acclaim in some quarters as "the...
on 18 June 1923. After losing by a knockout in seven to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
' first world champion, Wilde announced his retirement.
Retirement
Jimmy Wilde lived the last few years of his life in the CadoxtonCadoxton, Vale of Glamorgan
Cadoxton is a district of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. Cadoxton was once originally its own village, separate from Barry. It grew up around Saint Cadoc's parish church, which survives.The area is served by Cadoxton railway station- History :...
district of Barry, South Wales. With his final boxing winnings, Wilde entered into several business schemes, including a Welsh cinema chain and partnership in a cafe at 5 Western Shelter, Barry Island that was named 'The Mighty Atom' cafe. None was successful and he spent his final years in poverty. In 1965, Wilde suffered a serious mugging at a train station in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, from which he never recovered. His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1967, and two years later Wilde died in a hospital in Whitchurch
Whitchurch
Whitchurch can refer to:Towns in the United Kingdom:*Whitchurch, Shropshire*Whitchurch, HampshireVillages in the United Kingdom:*Whitchurch, Bristol*Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire*Whitchurch, Cardiff*Whitchurch, Devon...
. He was buried in Barry Cemetery.
Awards and recognition
He had a record of 137 wins, 4 losses, 2 draws and 8 no-decisions, with 100 wins by knockout, which makes him one of the most prolific knockout winners of all time. Ring Magazine, a publication which named him the 3rd greatest puncher of all time in 2003, has twice named Wilde the greatest flyweight of all time (March 1975 & May 1994). Furthermore, in the October 1999 issue of Ring Magazine he was rated as the 13th greatest fighter of the 20th century.In 1990, Wilde was elected into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame
International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...
as a member of that institution's original class. In 1992 he was also inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame
Welsh Sports Hall of Fame
The Welsh Sports Hall of Fame is a charitable organization created to commemorate the sporting achievements and preserve the artifacts of Welsh athletes. It was established in 1980 from the memorabilia collection of Welsh radio announcer G. V. Wynne-Jones...
and one of his prize winning belts is part of the organisation's display.