Wilde, Jimmy

Jimmy Wilde, byname Mighty Atom, (born May 15, 1892, near Quakers Yard, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales—died March 10, 1969, Cardiff), Welsh professional boxer, world flyweight (112 pounds) champion from 1916 to 1923.

Wilde won 131 fights (99 by knockouts), lost 3 (not counting a three-round exhibition match), drew 2, and had 13 no decisions (a common result early in the 20th century) in a professional boxing career that began in 1911 and ended in 1923. This record does not include hundreds of his earlier “booth” fights, bouts in which he would take on men who often outweighed him by dozens of pounds, contesting as many as 25 fights in one night. On March 30, 1914, he knocked out Eugene Husson of France in the sixth round to claim the European flyweight championship. He lost his first professional bout, and rights to the flyweight title, on Jan. 25, 1915, when his corner threw in the towel during the 17th round against Tancy Lee of Scotland. After regaining the European title, Wilde fought the American flyweight champion, Young Zulu Kid (Giuseppe Di Melfi), on Dec. 18, 1916. With his 11th-round knockout, Wilde became the first world flyweight champion, a title that he held until he was knocked out in the seventh round by Pancho Villa of the Philippines on June 18, 1923. Wilde retired following this loss. In 1938 he published his autobiography, Fighting Was My Business. Wilde was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.