"The Mighty Atom" - THE BEST BRITISH BOXER BY FAR? (Old Time Boxers)

Member Name: sidneygee

Product:	Old Time Boxers
Date:	10/03/02 (3599 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Sportsman and lovely man, Pioneered many aspects of modern boxing technique, Gets the credit he deserves - sometimes !

Disadvantages: Died in 1969, Virtually unknown today

The BEST British Boxer?

So, who was the very Best of British fighters ?

Well, normally, as someone who has never been able to see Boxing as a "sport", my answer could be “Who cares ?” However, since we are going through a period when British Boxers seem to be having a period of unprecedented success in World Boxing, it is a question that is almost certainly going to be raised.

Some of the “Know-little” younger sports journalists will probably come up and argue about awarding this accolade to one or other of the current or recent past crop of excellent British World Champions. Well, they may feel that they are right, but perhaps one of the 'old soaks' or a grey-beard who has been a fan of boxing since before these writers were even a potential gleam in their father's eye will smile knowingly and say “Ah yes, but what about Jimmy Wilde ?”

“Who he ?” would be the response of, I reckon, 98% of current British boxing 'fans' (and probably 99%+ of Boxing fans throughout the world who cared enough to give any answer).

But when the likes of Boxing Promoter Frank Warren was asked to produce his list of “Best World Boxers of the Millennium”, there is Jimmy Wilde at number 8.

And when “The Observer” Boxing Journalist Kevin Mitchell on Sunday December 3, 2000 gave his list of “The Ten Greatest Boxers of all Time”, there behind just three top Heavy-weights (Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Joe Louis) is the Fly-weight with THAT name “Jimmy Wilde”.

Looking at web-sites devoted to boxing, Jimmy Wilde's name comes up in the lists of “Ten Best Punchers” (sic), placed at number 8, 9 or 10, depending on the 'authority'.

And when the boxing fraternity created "The Boxing Hall of Fame" in 1990, Jimmy Wilde was one of the first names to be include
d . (http://www.hickoksports.com/history/boxhof.shtm)

So far, Jimmy Wilde holds the record for Feather-Weight Champions, holding his World title for 7 years 4 months and fighting no fewer than 36 times during that period when he was World Champion.

So who was “Jimmy Wilde” ?

BORN: May 15 1892;
Taylorstown, Glamorganshire, Wales.
DIED: March 10 1969; Cardiff, Wales.
HEIGHT : 5ft 2.5 inches WEIGHT : 94-109 1/2 lbs

YES !! He was WELSH !! and as an exiled Welshman, it stirs the pride in my soul whenever I hear his name. Short-arsed, skinny and frail-looking even in his prime, he was taught to fight by the 'legendary mountain fighter' Dai Davies whilst he was a miner at 15 years-old.

These bare-fisted 'mountain-fighters' were a feature of Welsh Valleys life in the late 19th century, when part of the 'entertainment' was for the men to collect together 'up the mountain' where bare-knuckle fighting would take place. Needless-to-say, whenever any group of Welshmen get together, suitable 'wagers' were laid, whilst some poor men would spill their blood for this 'entertainment'. Apparently Dai Davies eventually became Jimmy's father-in-law, but I cannot establish if he had any children.

The best that these fighters around the turn of the century could hope for then was to be engaged by one of the travelling 'fairs' where they would "fight all-comers" in the fair boxing booth.

So, by the time he was 16 years' old, Jimmy had left the mines and was making people laugh (looking so 'puny') appearing in Jack Scarrolt's boxing booth - “The World's Greatest Boxers – featuring Wales-Own Mighty Atom”, his sign read, according to my Grand-dad.

Jimmy Wilde had two nick-names given to him – “The Mighty Atom” and “The ghost with the hammer", because he
looked so pale and puny.

Between 1909 and 1914, Wilde appeared in an estimated 500 fights and, it is said, lost none. One Sunday afternoon, he is reported to have knocked out 23 men in 4 hours.

My maternal grandfather was a keen boxing fan and first saw Wilde fight in Pontypridd in a Booth in early 1910 before he had earned the accolade “The Mighty Atom”.

In 1958, Grand-dad told me :
“That boy looked so small and ineffectual, we all thought it was going to be a joke - like in that Charlie Chaplin film, where the boy would just run away from any of those who entered the ring, but the challenge was there. He would take on all-comers !!! I even thought of having a pop at him myself, because I could run a bit then!”.

A dozen or so cocky guys would volunteer to fight this 'boxer', with the prospect of a reward of a pound or two if they could just stand a round or three in the ring. I can recall seeing a similar sight in the fairground at Le Mans in 1970 when I was there watching the 24 hour race. I believe that such shows are illegal in the UK now.

Apparently Wilde would 'play around' with most of them for a round or so of entertainment, but invariably knocked them out. Mostly these were very fit men, some even with 'amateur' boxing experience and of all 'weights' but he was so quick, and could take the odd punch. When when he punched all of his weight seemed to go behind it.
“He would LAUNCH a punch” said my granddad, with a gleam in his eyes as he accessed his (often scurrilous) memory banks.

“WHAT are you telling that child!!” was what I can recall my grandmother shrieking when I was about three years' old and he demonstrated how he had used his bayonet (still in scabbard) once when fighting in World War I on my (reluctant 'volunteer') Uncle Frank (one of his sons). “You put the steel Right u
p their kidneys!!!” he said.
I still shudder at that (one of the first “images” that I recall getting emblazoned on my young brain).

As a 'Pro'
Apart from appearing in the booth, as Jimmy’s fame spread he was featured in different venues, where more paying spectators could see him perform.
Eventually, Jimmy Wilde became part of the 'professional circuit', as well as fulfilling his commitment to the 'booth'.

My grand-dad was among the audience when he first appeared on 'the professional circuit' on Boxing Day 1910 at the Mountain Ash Pavilion (“big place that ...bigger than the Albert Hall (?)”) when he fought a “Les Williams” over 3 rounds. "A scrappy fight” I recall my grand-dad's summing up, but his second fight on New Years' Day against “Ted Roberts” was a “cracker” – a knock-out in the third !

Two years later, on Hogmanay 1913, he beat the then British Champion for his weight, Billy Padden, followed by winning the Flyweight Championship of Europe and Great Britain in January 1915 against Tancy Lee in London.

Then, in February 1916, with widespread euphoria throughout Wales, he achieved the accolade of becoming Flyweight Champion of the World, which he held until 1923, when beaten by Pancho Villa.

In total he fought 153 times as a 'professional' and lost only four times, one on points and three by knockouts. In 1930, although arguably past his best, he fought 30 times in 330 days !!!

My Grandfather was ending his leave at Woolwich in London in May 1916 and saw Jimmy fight two challengers for his titles on the SAME DAY. He knocked out 'Darkey Saunders' in the third round and 'Joe Magnus' in the second round. Apparently, Grand-dad had seen him fight 'Darkey Saunders' previously ("Dirty bu**er that Darkey Basta*d ...", I rem
ember him saying – that's enough to get you pilloried in these PC days).

Jimmy Wilde wrote a well-respected book “The Art Of Boxing” that is out of print but obtainable on the second-hand market. ["With 15 Specially Posed Illustrations." By Jimmy Wilde. And a Preface By Ted Lewis (his manager)”]. He wrote this whilst World Champion and it remained in print until at least the 1940's.

Conclusions
OK, it is difficult to judge any sport over an extended period like this. “Dominance” over quality rivals is probably the key factor in any assessment. Then there is “length of service”, “power”, “resilience” and “quality” - all so hard to define as well as that most misused accolade – “class”.

“Length of service” in itself would be heavily weighted in favour of the 'old school' who had to fight on for years to make a 'living' with the very much smaller purses available then.

How could you judge Jimmy Wilde against, say Naseem Hamed ?

Jimmy would have fought well more than 500 times, sometimes against much heavier men ('catch-weight'), compared with, say the 60 or so (?) that Naseem will fight in total – probably none over his weight limit ?

Styles have also altered. But it seems that Jimmy Wilde perfected a style that formed the basis of the modern style, and he had sufficient eloquence as well as skill to write a book about the subject. Thus, you can surely see the basis for making a strong argument for Wilde being the BEST of British ?

His fight statistics are recorded in the following sites :

http://www.recyclegen.com/Peerless/jimmy_wilde .htm

and

http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/wilde-j. htm

It is even possible to buy a Jimmy Wilde 1/8th Scale silver model

(http://www.sheercast.co.uk/cat
egory.php?category=Boxing%201/8th%20Scale)

I understand that there is also a video available that includes his 1923 fight against Pancho Villa, which Jimmy lost by a knock-out in Round 7 in New York.

I Met Him Three Times !
Those of you who have read my 'indulgent' opinion on Working as a Student will recall that I met Mr Wilde when selling Candy-Floss at 'The Mighty Atom Cafe' at Barry Island. It was said that he was 'punch-drunk' and still thought that he owned the cafe that he had owned until the early 1950's. But I found him nothing of the sort. A short and portly guy, in a dark suit and a trilby hat, with a twinkle still in his eye, who loved to talk and oozed personality. Perhaps I caught him on his good days....

After our first meeting, I asked my Grand-dad about him, and got the 'low-down' referred to above. I wished that I wasn't quite as shy as I was, and had committed more to the conversations with Jimmy.

I would have loved to hear him talk about those fights with 'Darkey Saunders' and that last championship fight in New York.

It really was writing that opinion on 'working when I was a student' that brought back the memories and prompted me to carry out the research needed to write this piece – my first contact with anyone remotely 'famous'.

I reckon that there is a real potential for a film to made of Jimmy Wilde's life. I might even be persuaded to go and see it at the cinema ....


© Sidneygee 2002

Summary: