A Tragic End To A Great Fighting Man’s Life: Jimmy Wilde

In the opinion of many boxing historians, Jimmy Wilde deserves to rank as THE finest British boxer of them all. And there is a good amount of ammunition to load up on when it comes to being able to fire out this lofty claim. A pure puncher – arguably one of the best knockout artists who ever donned the horsehair mitts – Welshman Wilde, despite standing a mere 5’2” (and a bit), cranked off a staggering 98 KO’s during his amazing pro career.

A natural flyweight, Wilde sometimes took on both bantamweights and featherweights. The result, at least often times? A knockout win for the warrior dubbed, amongst other things, “The Ghost With The Hammer In His Hand.” For sure, Wilde could wreak havoc on a foe’s equilibrium. The world flyweight king from 1916 to 1923, Jimmy was the first official world champion at the poundage. Stats vary, but some list Wilde’s final pro record at 137-4-1-8 no contests, with those 98 KO’s.

The legendary Nat Fleischer of Ring Magazine cheerfully and passionately referred to Wilde as the greatest flyweight ever. Indeed Wilde may have been. And get this, fans and admirers of unbeaten, perfect, shiny records accomplished in the sport: Jimmy went an astonishing 93-0-1 before he suffered a defeat! That’s Sugar Ray Robinson stuff, not Floyd Mayweather stuff.

Wilde was way more than a big puncher, too. The son of a coalminer (the young Jimmy spending some time down the pits before the sport did what it once was so good at: saving a soul), Wilde was blessed with a keen defensive brain, awesome reflexes, and a heck of a high ring IQ. At the risk of repeating oneself, Jimmy Wilde really was one of the special ones, one of the polished ones. Wilde shone like gold during his prime, and even beyond.

Having gone pro in 1911, this officially, with most writers sure Wilde had in fact started to box a few years before then, Jimmy was a teenager when he began fighting, and he was just into his early 30s when he retired. It took not one, but two vastly underrated legends, in Pete Herman and Pancho Villa, to force Wilde to hang up the gloves. Wilde was stopped just three times during his career.

Wilde was a comparatively tiny man in stature, yet inn that squared circle he was a giant of truly Godly proportions. Maybe one day, justice will be done, and a fine film will be made that gets busy paying tribute to one of the best to ever do it.

Now comes the awful ending this boxing/punching/pugilistic master was the victim of at the end of his life. Wilde was attacked by four thugs at a railway station in 1965. The four cowards jumped the former champion, with their following beating proving so brutal, the former lord of the ring never fully recovered. Wilde spent the final four years of his life in a hospital bed, before sadly passing away at the age of 76, this on March 10, 1969.

But Jimmy Wilde’s ring accomplishments, his sheer magic, will live forever.

Jimmy Wilde: World flyweight champion December 1916 to June 1923.

Battled fellow greats: Tancy Lee, Sid Smith, Joe Symonds, Young Zulu Kid, Joe Lynch, Memphis Pal Moore, Jackie Sharkey, Pete Herman, Pancho Villa.

Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.