Jimmy Wilde

William James Wilde (15 May 1892 – 10 March 1969) was a Welsh professional boxer who competed from 1911 to 1923.

Jimmy Wilde's birth certificate states 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 around 6 years old. In the 1901 census eight year old William James Wilde, his parents and his three sisters were all recorded as speaking only Welsh. His father was a coal miner and Jimmy later worked in the pits himself, being small enough to crawl through gullies impassable to most of his colleagues. He 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 whom were local men weighing around 200 lbs.

In 1910, Wilde married his wife Elizabeth and was a father the same year.

His officially listed debut was on 26 December 1910, when he fought Les Williams to a no-decision in three rounds.

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.

His claim that he had at least 800 fights is probably greatly exaggerated, but it was certainly more than the 152 shown in Boxrec and elsewhere.

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 the 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 left Tylorstown Colliery in 1913.

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).

In 1915, Wilde was hospitalized, requiring an operation for "an internal complaint".

He held the IBU world flyweight title in 1916, the EBU European flyweight title twice; firstly in 1914 and again from 1916 to 1917, the BBBofC British flyweight title in 1916 and the National Sporting Club's British flyweight title from 1916 to 1918.

Often regarded as the greatest British fighter of all time, 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 Boxer Ever".

Wilde earned various nicknames, such as "The Mighty Atom", "Ghost with the Hammer in His Hand", and "The Tylorstown Terror" due to his bludgeoning punching power.

While reigning as the world's greatest flyweight, Wilde would take on bantamweights and even featherweights, and knock them out.

In addition to his professional career, Wilde participated in 151 bouts judged as newspaper decisions.

Of these, the results were seven wins and a single loss, with 143 being declared as no decisions.

Wilde had recorded the longest unbeaten record without a loss in boxing history.

After a sixteen-fight knockout streak, 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, knocking him out in the eleventh round of their bout at the Holborn Stadium.

In late December 1916, after being rejected on two previous occasions due to an old leg problem from a colliery accident and for being underweight, Wilde was accepted into the British Army and while never seeing active service, became an instructor at Aldershot.

In 1917, he retained the world 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.

Wilde travelled to the United States for a series of fights, and on 6 December 1919, 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.

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.

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 him 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.

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.

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.

Wilde returned to the ring out of a sense of obligation to defend his title against Pancho Villa on 18 June 1923 at the Polo Grounds in New York.