Jimmy Wilde - Knowledge

374: 439: 323:. 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 454:, 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. 40: 435:(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. 335:

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

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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

263:, 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 494:, 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 355:, 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 472:

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.

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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.

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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

461:(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 405:

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

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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.

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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.

417: 530:, 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. 11541: 7859: 2786: 11536: 7381: 2308: 11531: 469:' first ever world champion. Wilde announced his retirement before returning to England, confirming his decision on 1 January 1924. 11546: 6559: 1486: 340:

and elsewhere. His officially listed debut was on 26 December 1910, when he fought Les Williams to a no-decision in three rounds.

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Championship on 15 January 1915 in London. Ignoring his handlers advice to postpone the fight because he was suffering from

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Terror" due to his bludgeoning punching power. While reigning as the world's greatest flyweight, Wilde would take on

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He was ranked as the top flyweight of all-time by the International Boxing Research Organization in 2006.

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eight year old William James Wilde, his parents and his three sisters were all recorded as speaking only

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Wilde travelled to the United States for a series of fights and on 6 December 1919, lost to "Little"

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in New York, Wilde was knocked out in the seventh round by his younger opponent. Villa became the

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In 1920, Wilde went undefeated in 10 fights, but lost by a knockout in 17 rounds to former World

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

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by a fourth round KO. He kept fighting and winning, and in 1919, he beat American bantamweight

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Often regarded as the greatest British fighter of all time, he was the first official world

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who competed from 1911 to 1923. He simultaneously held the National Sporting Clubs British

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Agreed no-decision bout if Jenkins lasted the distance. Wilde was the unofficial winner

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Agreed no-decision bout if Jenkins lasted the distance. Wilde was the unofficial winner

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of the United States, knocking him out in the eleventh round of their bout at the

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and while never seeing active service, became an Physical Training Instructor at

288: 166: 6538: 6196: 5991: 1465: 1123: 918: 428: 395: 352: 348: 320: 304: 68: 11425: 11485: 527: 272: 260: 256: 11032:"Why Jimmy Wilde Was Beaten: Herman Fully 16lbs. Heavier Than the Welshman" 10830:"Jimmy Wilde Defeats Symonds in Contest for Fly-Weight Boxing Championship" 462: 447: 406: 381:. (The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, congratulates Jimmy Wilde.) 292: 268: 64: 7439: 6993: 6922: 5818: 2366: 1920: 1849: 745: 491: 466: 458: 451: 386: 370:, a weakened Wilde was knocked out in the seventeenth round (of twenty). 344: 308: 264: 11370: 11408: 11348: 7360: 6648: 2287: 1575: 410: 367: 363: 356: 296: 252: 245: 140: 431:

in a controversial ten-round newspaper decision. According to the

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