Jimmy Wilde

Early years

Jimmy Wilde's birth certificate claims that he was born in the Taff Bargoed Valley community of Pentwyn Deintyr) (now known as the Graig), Quakers Yard, Treharris, Wales, in the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil. His parents later moved to the village of Tylorstown in the Rhondda Valley when Wilde was 12 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 started boxing 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.

Professional career

The record books often show that Wilde started boxing professionally in 1911, but it is widely assumed (and later confirmed by boxing analysts) 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 152 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 out 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 and Europe Flyweight 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 corner 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.

On 6 December 1919, Wilde lost to "Little" Jackie Sharkey in a ten-round newspaper decision of the Milwaukee Journal before a crowd close to 8,000 at the Auditorium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sharkey was considered a decisive winner, taking eight of the ten rounds according to the newspapermen at ringside. Wilde had been away from the ring for months, and was outweighed by Sharkey by seven pounds. Sharkey's blows were said to land more frequently and with greater force. Sharkey's win was at least a minor upset as Wilde led in the early betting 2 to 1. The American newspaper's decisions were questioned by many British boxing journalists.

In 1920, Wilde 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.

Retirement

Jimmy Wilde lived the last few years of his life in the Cadoxton 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 were successful and he spent his final years in poverty. In 1965, Wilde suffered serious injuries during a 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.

Awards and recognition

Wilde had a record of 139 wins, 3 losses, 1 draws and 5 no-contests, with 99 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 him the greatest flyweight of all time (March 1975 and May 1994). Furthermore, the October 1999 issue of Ring Magazine rated Wilde the 13th greatest fighter of the 20th century.

In 1990, Wilde was elected into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame as a member of that institution's inaugural class, a distinction shared with all-time greats such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Harry Greb, Benny Leonard and Henry Armstrong. 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.

Wilde was ranked as the number 1 flyweight of all-time by the International Boxing Research Organization in 2006.

Jimmy Wilde was voted as the Greatest Bantamweight Ever in 2014 by the Houston Boxing Hall Of Fame. The HBHOF is a voting body composed entirely of current and former fighters.