William James Wilde (12 May 1892 – 10 March 1969) was a Welsh professional boxer who competed from 1911 to 1923. He simultaneously held the National Sporting Clubs British flyweight title and the World Flyweight championship from 1916 to 1923. 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.

Early years

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. He left Tylorstown Colliery in 1913.

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. 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 officially listed debut was on 26 December 1910, when he fought Les Williams to a no-decision in three rounds. 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 finally lost his undefeated record when he challenged Tancy Lee for the vacant British and Europe Flyweight Championship on 15 January 1915 in London. Ignoring his handlers advice to postpone the fight because he was suffering from Influenza, a weakened Wilde was knocked out in the seventeenth round (of twenty). In 1915, Wilde was hospitalized, requiring an operation for "an internal complaint". 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 13 May, he had two fights on the same day at Woolwich barracks winning both by knockout, both fights combined lasted 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 the first World Flyweight Champion 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 a physical training instructor at Aldershot. In 1917, he retained the British title by beating George Clarke by a fourth round KO. He kept fighting and winning, and in 1919, he beat American bantamweight Joe Lynch who would later win the World bantamweight title. Wilde travelled to the United States for a series of fights and on 6 December 1919, lost to "Little" Jackie Sharkey in a controversial ten-round newspaper decision. According to the Milwaukee Journal (before a crowd close to 8,000 at the Auditorium in Milwaukee Wisconsin) Sharkey was considered to have won 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 lost by a knockout in 17 rounds 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. 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. American promoter Tex Rickard (who promoted the Philippine sensation Pancho Villa) lured Wilde out of retirement with a promise of a £15,000 payday which was, at that time, a fortune. On 18 June 1923 at the Polo Grounds in New York, Wilde was knocked out in the seventh round by his younger opponent. Villa became the Philippines' first ever world champion. Wilde announced his retirement before returning to England, confirming his decision on 1 January 1924. In 1927, at the age of 35, Wilde was reportedly considering making a comeback, but after consulting a specialist in head trauma, never returned to competitive boxing. For a while he ran a successful Cinema and cafe in Cardiff.

Retirement

Wilde published a ghost-written autobiography in 1938 entitled Fighting Was My Business. In the early 1930s Wilde's son David had a short career in professional boxing without any great success. He gave up boxing to run a hairdressers in north London. In the 1930s Wilde lived in Hocroft Court, Cricklewood, from where almost all of his boxing trophies and medals were stolen in a 1936 burglary. He became a boxing referee, including in 1936 refereeing every bout of a boxing tournament at the Hastings Pier Pavilion. and he wrote an incisive weekly boxing column in the News of the World for nigh on two decades. In December 1936 he was injured after being thrown from his car when it collided with a van near Hampstead and suffered severe concussion. After the War Wilde lived in Cadoxton, Barry, South Wales. In 1960, Wilde suffered facial injuries after being mugged at a train station in Cardiff. His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1967, and two years later Wilde, who was suffering from Diabetes and Dementia died at Whitchurch Hospital. He was buried alongside his Wife in Barry Cemetery.

Awards and recognition

With the longest unbeaten streak in boxing history, he went 103 fights before his first loss. Wilde had a record of 139 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw and 5 no-contests, with an impressive 99 wins by knockout. Ring Magazine, named him both the 3rd greatest puncher of all time, and the greatest flyweight of all time, and rated him as the 13th greatest fighter of the 20th century. In 1990, he was elected to the inaugural class of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and in 1992, the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame. He was ranked as the top flyweight of all-time by the International Boxing Research Organization in 2006.

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from BoxRec, unless otherwise stated.

Official record

All newspaper decisions are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of newspaper decisions in the win/loss/draw column.