School me on Jimmy Wilde

[anj]

Always very high on P4P all-time lists.

To his credit, just looking at boxrec, he was always 10lbs lighter than his opponents.

HOWEVER:
Most of Wilde's wins were against bums who barely even started their professional career lol. He won the first world flyweight title against a guy who had 17 wins and 32 losses by the end of his career.
He only stayed in Britain. Did he fight cab drivers?

Right now, I have no CLUE how on earth he is always ranked as one of the very best ATG's.

I put him on the list I did because I didn't know enough about him and thought I'd submit to the greater knowledge pool...acknowledging I'm still yet to learn about many fighters.

How exactly is he better than a monster like Galaxy or someone like Ricardo Lopez?

Keep to the topic please.

[Boxed Ears]

His victory over McRubedoo was shocking on a p4p basis. Better than anything Tunney or Loughran ever had, frankly. Writers of the time say he burst the box open on that one.

[The Funny Man 7]

One of boxings truly amazing phenomenons, regardless of how much one may believe athletes have improved over the last 100 years.

Jimmy looks to frail to carry a spit bucket, let alone throw punches, but Gene Tunney unequivocally called Wilde the greatest fighting machine he'd ever seen, a particularly amazing comment when one considers that Gene had only seen Wilde when Wilde on beginning to lose a step in the ring.

Wilde is best remembered for his AMAZING punching power, which is even more amazing when one remembers he typically weighed in between 96-102 pounds while fighting fully fledged flyweights and bantamweights. But its often forgotten that Wilde had blinding handspeed, he was extremely agile, and he was very, very calm and poised inside the ring, which allowed him to fight round after round without getting tired.

While its hard to gauge where Wilde should rank all time relative to someone on this side of the century like Jones or Mayweather, I don't think anyone can deny 'The Ghost With the Hammer in His Hand' was a rare creature.

[the_bigunit]

I think many of Wilde's opposition's records are incomplete. It's impossible to really assess just how good they were.

[the_bigunit]

Top-20 ATG, at least, is fair. Anyone agree?

[Flea Man]

Their records are mainly incomplete.

Still, can't give him a free pass. As a flyweight champ' it's hard to rankhim highly withmuch justification. But we know how good a bantamJoe Lynch was and how diminutive Wilde was.

Therefore he ranks high as a P4P force IMO.

[Brownies]

Originally Posted by anj

Always very high on P4P all-time lists.

To his credit, just looking at boxrec, he was always 10lbs lighter than his opponents.

HOWEVER:
Most of Wilde's wins were against bums who barely even started their professional career lol. He won the first world flyweight title against a guy who had 17 wins and 32 losses by the end of his career.
He only stayed in Britain. Did he fight cab drivers?

Right now, I have no CLUE how on earth he is always ranked as one of the very best ATG's.

I put him on the list I did because I didn't know enough about him and thought I'd submit to the greater knowledge pool...acknowledging I'm still yet to learn about many fighters.

How exactly is he better than a monster like Galaxy or someone like Ricardo Lopez?

Keep to the topic please.

Like the_bigunit said, Boxrec records are incomplete for such older fighters. You can read in a 1921 newspaper that a fighter had over 120 bouts so far, yet you read on boxrec that he had a 3-0 record. Boxrec is a great tool, but it would be near impossible to add every damn fights that have happened since 1870.

I'm pretty sure that Gentleman Jim Corbett didn't develop his revolutionizing style (for the time) with a career of ony 24 bouts.

[the_bigunit]

Originally Posted by The Funny Man 7

One of boxings truly amazing phenomenons, regardless of how much one may believe athletes have improved over the last 100 years.

Jimmy looks to frail to carry a spit bucket, let alone throw punches, but Gene Tunney unequivocally called Wilde the greatest fighting machine he'd ever seen, a particularly amazing comment when one considers that Gene had only seen Wilde when Wilde on beginning to lose a step in the ring.

Wilde is best remembered for his AMAZING punching power, which is even more amazing when one remembers he typically weighed in between 96-102 pounds while fighting fully fledged flyweights and bantamweights. But its often forgotten that Wilde had blinding handspeed, he was extremely agile, and he was very, very calm and poised inside the ring, which allowed him to fight round after round without getting tired.

While its hard to gauge where Wilde should rank all time relative to someone on this side of the century like Jones or Mayweather, I don't think anyone can deny 'The Ghost With the Hammer in His Hand' was a rare creature.

Phenomenon is truly a correct term. His fighting life is just unbelievable -- who can forget Wilde's mark in the legendary Boxing Booths?

He, at times, would fight grown men over 100 pounds heavier than him -- at just 16 years old.

[Flea Man]

Anyway, Galaxy never beat the best of his division. Lopez weighed more than Wilde and cut to make a meaningless division that Wilde didn't have the luxury and could've made naturally for most of his career.

Canto? That I could live with.

[Flea Man]

Originally Posted by the_bigunit

Top-20 ATG, at least, is fair. Anyone agree?

Absolutely not.

[the_bigunit]

Originally Posted by Flea Man

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not? How so?

[LittleRed]

Flea hates Wilde because he is secretly Scottish. Lynch!

[Flea Man]

If I don't know much about his era of flys I can't give him the benefit of the doubt. Still, his P4P achievements mean I rank him in the top 50-60.

Still, 1-1 with Tancy Lee only due to influenza. Stopped much bigger Joe Symonds. YZK was a well regarded scrapper, Rosner and Pal Moore good wins. Lynch for me, not surprisingly, is the most impressive scalp for Wilde.

Brilliant, I'm not denying that. But top 20 is hard for me to fathom just because we can't prove how dense his resume is, despite his consistency and huge amount of bouts (I don't include 'booth' bouts when summing up a fighters greatness though it obviously proves a lot about their toughness and schooling) its easier to place guys I can reel off more quality scalps blah blah blah

Greater P4P than Lynch.

[Lester1583]

Originally Posted by Flea Man

If I don't know much about his era of flys I can't give him the benefit of the doubt. Still, his P4P achievements mean I rank him in the top 50-60.

Have you read this piece about Wilde, Flea?

Posted by Senya:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

His first sparring partner was his wife...

" We used to spar in the bedroom or in the kitchen," Wilde said to me on one occasion. " She'd lead at me, and I'd dodge the blow."
" But did you ever hit back ? " I asked.
" Oh, no," replied Wilde, " but even if I had she'd have been nimble enough to get out of the way. She knows as much about boxing as I do."

Originally Posted by Flea Man

Greater P4P than Lynch.

Lynch looks more impressive on film than Wilde to me.

[Flea Man]

Agree with that 100%. He would've battered Wilde IMO