The author of a profile of Jimmy Wilde, aka “The Mighty Atom,” is tempted to stipulate the particulars of Wilde’s unbelievable document – 152 bouts, 146 victories, 100 knockouts, the overwhelming majority of these contests fought inside a 4 yr span – and easily say, “‘Nuff stated.” However, wonderful as these numbers are, that might be short-changing each Wilde and people who need to know extra in regards to the tiny man who will ceaselessly be, with out query, one of many best boxers who has ever lived. Actually, the wonderful Wilde didn’t have interaction in a mere 152 fights, however in one thing nearer to eight hundred. No joke.
Wilde got here from Tylorstown, Wales, the son of a coal miner. He was a “pit boy” as a baby, hewing coal from crevices no grown man may squeeze into. When he started his boxing profession in 1908 on the age of sixteen he weighed simply 74 kilos. Like many British fighters of that point he began out with what they known as “sales space bouts,” which have been a preferred attraction at touring gala’s. For these contests, cash was supplied to anybody who may final three rounds with Wilde. Since Wilde had the dimensions and construct of a small jockey, he routinely gave away as a lot as 100 kilos to his opponents, however it didn’t matter; nobody ever made it to the tip of the third.
We will’t know for certain what number of sales space bouts Wilde had — estimates vary between 5 and 7 hundred — however for 3 years, Wilde was boxing virtually every single day, usually a number of instances a day. He liked to battle and had wished to be a prizefighter since he was a baby. When he started to compete on a legit foundation in 1911, he was already a veteran, a whole skilled on the age of 19. His mentor was the legendary Jim Driscoll and from him Wilde had realized the technical aspect of the sport, how you can parry and counter, and the artwork of feinting to create openings. However nobody needed to educate Wilde how you can hit; that seemed to be one thing he was born with.
So highly effective was Wilde that all through his profession he fearlessly stepped into the ring towards males a lot larger and heavier. Bouncing on the balls of his toes, his palms usually at his waist, he would strike with rattlesnake quickness, the best his prime weapon. When it landed cleanly, the battle was usually over then and there. Observers have been baffled by how a boxer so small may hit so laborious. Physicians even examined “The Tylorstown Terror” in a useless effort to find out what anatomical function contributed to his bone-rattling energy. How may a person so diminutive, to not point out pale and sickly wanting, throw punches laborious sufficient to knock larger males out chilly? The query led to Wilde’s different memorable appellation: “The Ghost With The Hammer In His Hand.”
In 1912, Wilde received his first title, the British 98 pound championship. Combating roughly each three weeks, he went on to decimate all competitors that was wherever close to his combating weight, within the course of increase the longest unbeaten streak in boxing historical past. It’s a document that can doubtless by no means be damaged: 103 contests, not a single loss. Much more spectacular, Jimmy put collectively this unbelievable streak in little greater than 4 years, combating roughly each two weeks. Thus, by the point he received the world flyweight title in 1916, he had already cleaned out the division and for the rest of his profession had no selection however usually battle males larger and heavier. Typical was his bout in 1918 with one Joe Conn the place he was outweighed by twenty kilos. To place that in perspective, that’s the equal of a middleweight dealing with a heavyweight. Wilde scored six knockdowns earlier than stopping Conn in spherical twelve.
Given how usually Wilde fought it’s maybe not stunning that his profession ended abruptly, his physique lastly giving out after greater than fifteen years of fixed warring. Once more recognizing his opponent virtually twenty kilos, he was stopped by former bantamweight champion Pete Herman when Jimmy’s nook threw within the towel in spherical seventeen. After, Herman, one of many nice bantamweights of all time, dubbed Wilde the most effective he had ever confronted. Jimmy instantly retired however got here again two years later to defend his flyweight title towards the nice Pancho Villa, the primary Filipino world champion. Villa gave the ageing Welshman a horrible beating earlier than stopping him within the seventh. Wilde by no means fought once more.
There’s little query that “The Mighty Atom” deserves the highest place in any severe rating of the best flyweight boxers who ever lived. Additional, he needs to be considered a powerful contender for the title of the best fighter, pound-for-pound, to ever emerge from the British Isles. By way of uncooked firepower, Wilde has few friends. Ring journal rated him the third strongest puncher of all time, behind solely Joe Louis and Sam Langford. No much less an authority than heavyweight champion Gene Tunney known as Wilde “the best fighter I ever noticed.” — Robert Portis
