Jimmy Wilde

Universally acknowledged as the first world champion of the flyweight division, and arguably the greatest 8 stone title-holder of them all, Jimmy Wilde was nicknamed the ‘Ghost with a Hammer in his Hand’ and the ‘Mighty Atom’. At just 5ft 2 1/2ins tall, and weighing in at 7st 10lbs, he looked as though a puff of wind could knock him over. Wrong! The power was all the other way round and his amazing punching power earned him nearly 100 KOs.

After working underground at the local coal mines he began boxing as a boy to supplement his meagre wages. He fought in the miner’s clubs and also in the boxing booths that regularly visited the area. His first registered professional contest was in 1911, when he knocked out Ted Roberts in three rounds. He liked to keep busy. In 1913, he fought more than 30 times and, once he had exhausted the opposition in Wales and northern England, he headed to London. He soon became a firm favourite at the old National Sporting Club, in Covent Garden, where he lost for the first time. Conceding nearly 10 pounds in weight and 10 years in age, he was matched against Tancy Lee for the British and European titles in January, 1915. The experienced Scot stopped him in the 17th round.

He eventually won the British title a year later when he took 12 rounds to stop Joe Symonds. That was a springboard to the world title, which he captured in April, 1916, by knocking out Johnny Rosner in 11 rounds. He gained his revenge on Lee in a rematch and finally received worldwide recognition as the world champion when he knocked out America’s Young Zulu Kid in 11 rounds in December that same year.

Top ranked American rivals came and went. He beat bantamweights Joe Lynch and Pal Moore in 1919 and in 1920 he won all 12 contests, five inside the distance, on a tour of the US. Having retired at the age of 29, Wilde was enticed out of retirement two years later to defend his world flyweight title against Pancho Villa at the Polo Grounds in New York. The Welshman’s purse was $65,000 and a crowd of 23,000 turned up to watch. The tough Filipino cut Wilde and then poured on the pressure and the punches before knocking out his opponent in the seventh round. It was the final round of an amazing career.

Jimmy Wilde (Boxer) Born in Quakers Yard on 15 May, 1892; Died on 10 March, 1969, in Whitchurch, Cardiff.