The author of a profile of Jimmy Wilde, aka “The Mighty Atom,” is tempted to stipulate the particulars of Wilde’s unimaginable file – 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 may be short-changing each Wilde and people who need to know extra concerning 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 interact 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 toddler, 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 well-liked attraction at touring festivals. For these contests, cash was provided to anybody who may final three rounds with Wilde. Since Wilde had the scale and construct of a small jockey, he routinely gave away as a lot as 100 kilos to his opponents, but it surely didn’t matter; nobody ever made it to the top of the third.
We are able to’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 each day, typically a number of instances a day. He liked to struggle and had wished to be a prizefighter since he was a toddler. When he started to compete on a legit foundation in 1911, he was already a veteran, an entire 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, easy methods to parry and counter, and the artwork of feinting to create openings. However nobody needed to educate Wilde easy methods to hit; that gave the impression to be one thing he was born with.
So highly effective was Wilde that all through his profession he fearlessly stepped into the ring in opposition to males a lot greater and heavier. Bouncing on the balls of his ft, his palms typically at his waist, he would strike with rattlesnake quickness, the correct his prime weapon. When it landed cleanly, the struggle was typically 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 trying, throw punches laborious sufficient to knock greater 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 build up the longest unbeaten streak in boxing historical past. It’s a file that may probably by no means be damaged: 103 contests, not a single loss. Much more spectacular, Jimmy put collectively this unimaginable 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 often battle males greater 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 going through a heavyweight. Wilde scored six knockdowns earlier than stopping Conn in spherical twelve.
Given how typically 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 in opposition to 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 thought to be 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
