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Jimmy Wilde

Jimmy Wilde was born in Pontypridd, Wales, on May 15, 1892. The son of a coal miner, he spent his boyhood as a pit boy in the mines. He began fighting for a living when he weighed 74 pounds and was 16 years old. In a boxing booth tournament in Tylorstown, he took on all comers of all sizes.

His physique looked nothing like that of a typical prize fighter, and he gained the nickname "The Mighty Atom." But his appearance was deceptive, and he punched harder, and with more speed and accuracy, than most lightweight fighters. He stood 5 ft. 2 1/4 inches and never weighed more than 108 pounds for a fight. Pound for pound he has been described as the most devastating puncher in the history of the ring, and some say that the flyweight division was created for him.

Jimmy Wilde became the first official flyweight champion on December 18, 1916, by knocking out the Zulu Kid from the United States in the eleventh round of a bout in London. He immediately returned to the boxing booths in Britain and knocked out 19 blokes of assorted sizes in three and a half hours, then called a brief intermission for a cup of tea and went back and upended four more oafs in a half hour. He went on to fight many exhibition bouts during World War I. Before one fight against Joe Lynch at the National Sporting Club in London, on March 1, 1919, the Prince of Wales got into the ring, shook Jimmy's hand, and wished him luck. Jimmy then went on to clobber Lynch in 15 rounds. Lynch went on later to take the world bantamweight title from Pete Herman.

After the war he came to America, fighting such boxing luminaries as Jack Sharkey, Mike Ertle, Babe Asher, Micky Russell, Frankie Mason, Battling Murray, Bobby Dyson, and Patsy Wallace. He then returned to the U.K. On January 13, 1921, at the age of 28, Wilde fought Pete Herman in what was to be Wilde's last fight in London. When Herman weighed in at 121 (three pounds over the limit) and Wilde at 108, Jimmy's manager announced before the fight that all bets were off. Herman went on to floor Wilde in the 17th round. This was only Wilde's third loss in 10 years.

After remaining idle for two years, Wilde went back to the U.S. to defend his flyweight crown against Pancho Villa before a crowd of 40,000 at the Polo Grounds on June 18, 1923. Villa, of the Philippines, had previously won the American title from Johnny Buff and lost it back to Frankie Genaro. After 1.46 minutes of the seventh round, Villa knocked Wilde to the canvas for the count. Although the tiny Welshman fought one of the greatest battles ever witnessed in a championship fight, his age was no match for the youthful power of the new champ from Manila, then only 22 years old..

Jimmy Wilde scored a total of 75 knockouts during his career from 1911 to 1923, and is considered by many to have been the greatest flyweight of all time.

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