Black & White footage of British Boxers

nice one flea, I was gunna put the mcgowan one in at the end but I decided to put the ko of Jones in instead. It's probably better this way if you're gunna do a McGowan entry though.

Might do Jim Driscoll me. I've came in my pants a few times over that footage there is of him.

 

Jimmy Wilde

Regarded by many as the greatest Flyweight to ever grace the sport of boxing, Jimmy Wilde was born in Wales in 1982. From a young age, Wilde was put to work in the coal mines alongside his father. Despite his lack of size, Jimmy was exceptionally strong, and quickly found a knack for boxing. Wilde, now aged 16, would fight regularly at local fair grounds, issuing challenges to all comers. Crowds would look on in amazement as the 5ft 2 inch Wilde destroyed men twice his size with relative ease.

Wilde officially turned pro in December 1910 with a no contest against Les Williams in South Wales. This mediocre start was not a sign of things to come, however, as Wilde embarked on a 103 fight unbeaten run, a streak which saw him capture the British 7 stone championship with an 18th round KO of Billy Padden in 1912, as well as the European Flyweight title by knocking out Eugene Husson in 6. The little wizard looked unbeatable, making his opponents look foolish by dodging and weaving onslaughts before popping out a jab with a smile on his face. Rarely blocking or clinching due to his incredible size disadvantage, Wilde’s style was unique in itself, often relying on his suburb reflexes to make his opponent miss. When Wilde wanted the fight to be over, he usually got his way as he stepped up the pressure before knocking his opponents out.

Wilde's impressive winning streak would come to an end, however, when he challenged Tancy Lee for the vacant European Flyweight Title. Wilde, outweighed officially by eleven pound on the day of the fight even though he was fully clothed during the weigh-in, was finally stopped in the 17th round (of twenty) after his corner called a halt to the action in what was a competitive affair. What is interesting to note, however, is that a week before the bout, Jimmy Wilde was diagnosed with influenza, and was physically sick moments before the fight.
Wilde, seemingly aggravated by his first professional loss, then embarked on a brutal 16 fight KO winning streak, winning the British Flyweight title against Joe Symonds (58-9-5), stopping him in the twelfth round. Just three fights later, Wilde would win the IBU 'World' Flyweight title, defeating Johnny Rosner in the 11th. (The IBU, while claiming to be a world organisation, was only recognised in Europe.) This run also saw Wilde stop Sid Smith, a veteran of almost 80 fights. Feeling unbeatable, Wilde fought twice on the 13th May 1916, defeating both Joe Magnus and ****** Saunders in less than five rounds apiece at the Woolwich Dockyard. On the 26th June of that year, a fully fit Wilde would avenge his only loss to date, stopping Trancy Lee in the 11th.

Later that year, 'The Mighty Atom' officially became the first World Flyweight Champion by stopping the colourfully named Young Zulu Kid in the 11th. The fight, scheduled for 20, saw Wilde start quickly as the American had no answer to the ‘Mighty Atom’s’ speed and power. The end came just after the half way mark after Wilde landed a crushing left to the jaw of 'the Kid', causing the American's corner to throw in the towel. Just three months later, Wilde would unify the World title with the British and European titles, stopping George Clark in four. During this impressive winning streak, Wilde would fight Joe Conn, a man Wilde claimed was Britain’s 9 stone champion in a catchweight fight. The Welshman later said he weighed 6 stone 10 for this bout, but while Conn refused to get on the scales. Newspaper observers later estimated Conn to outweigh Wilde by almost 3 stone. Jimmy, nonetheless, stepped into the ring and completely destroyed Conn, knocking him down a total of 13 times on route to a 12 round KO victory.

Jimmy was to be defeated by the then Bantamweight World Champion Memphis Moore (54-6-13), an opponent who was again rumoured to outweigh the fully clothed Wilde by 14 pound on the night of the fight. Like his first defeat against Lee, Wilde would avenge the loss in the rematch, defeating the American on points over twenty gruelling rounds. After the Moore rematch, Wilde embarked on a tour of the United States and Canada, winning ten out of his eleven bouts, losing only to Jackie Sharkey, a fight in which he was sure he won. Later on, Wilde joked that ‘the Americans stood no chance. I knocked them all cold’, with victories of the great Frankie Mason (62-5-11), Battling Al Murray (26-4), a rematch with Young Zulu Kid, and Patsy Wallace in a bout which drew the largest crowd in Canadian boxing history.

Wilde's career was to end with disappointing back to back defeats. In 1921, after almost 140 official fights, the ‘Mighty Atom’ was knocked out by Pete Herman, whom again outweighed Wilde by ten pound, in the 17th round. After a two year retirement, Wilde was tempted into the ring once more against the Pilipino great Pancho Vella. The 31 year old Wilde started at a ferocious pace, tagging one of Asia’s finest ever fighters with his trademark straight right and murderous hooks. The problem for the Welshman, however, was Vella, although being wobbled on more than one occasion, was taking the shot reasonably well, returning fire with his own right hand. At the end of the second, the heavy punching Vella caught Wilde flush after the bell had sounded, a blow which left the Mighty Atom concussed for more than three weeks later. Legendary trainer Ray Arcel, who was at ringside, felt the bout should have ended in disqualification. But Wilde refused to appeal to the referee, and the fight continued. The groggy Welshmen would go on to take a sustained beating from Vella who eventually knocked his man out in the 7th round, sending Wilde into retirement for the second and final time.

The first Trancy Lee fight can be seen here:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKZdcBFE_7Q[/ame]

Jimmy Wilde vs Joe Symonds

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igryTKKR2Nw&feature=related[/ame]

Jimmy Wilde vs Pancho Villa

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k7z50MwPKk[/ame]

Notice that Wilde seemingly has his man going early on. He looks sharp, focused, and deadly, despite being out of the ring for two years!

The truth is, we will never know Jimmy Wilde’s true boxing record. Boxrec have the Welshmen’s official record as 134-4-2, with 100 wins by way of knock out. Wilde himself claimed to have fought over 875 times, winning more than 670 by knockout! But he was not an all action slugger. Wilde was a master of defence, often making opponents look foolish by weaving onslaughts with his hands held low before tagging his opponent seemingly at will. Boxing experts would refer to him as 'the ghost with a hammer in his hand', so elusive was he.

Jimmy Wilde died as the result of injuries sustained in a mugging in Cardiff in 1969. One would think that if the gang of thugs had pulled the same stunt 40 years earlier, they wouldn’t have been as successful.

 

Great post Vano. Lee is really laying it on thick there in the 17th round. Wilde looks much better against Symonds with the countering and timing his man, and he looks even better in the early stages against Villa which is interesting. Villa looks brilliant though.

 

Yeah, Villa was ****ing amazing! lets have it right

With the Lee fight, there have always been rumours about Wilde having flu and being sick just before the fight. We can perhaps take this into consideration as, after 17 rounds, you would be near dead.

The way he looked so good against Villa just shows the calibre of fighter he was. After a two year lay off, against 1 of the top Flyweights ever, and he stilled superb. It is frightening to think of how he would have looked in his prime and in fall health. What pisses me off is that there are 3 Wilde fights on YouTube, and 2 of them are of him being stopped (but he was only ever beaten twice more). He wins 134 official fights, and only 1 is on youtube! sick!

 

Flea Man, you wanna do Jimmy McLarnin then and I'll do Driscoll?

 

Yeah I think I'd give my left nut for Greb - Tunney 1

 

haha yeah, that's really **** that. Greb didn't have modern nutrition and pot noodles though so he was probably ****, certainly nothing on Sakio Bika with his sit up bar.

 

it's a joke lads

 

Glen Jonhson > Greb

 

Ok then, the peerless one. Jim Driscoll was nicknamed Peerless, because in his setting, he was said to be just that.

So there's hardly any footage of the great Jim Driscoll, all we have to go off in terms of empirically evaluating his ability is a schooling of a non great opponent, and it's black and white so **** yeah it qualifies for this thread.

Some background on Jim Driscoll before we get into the footage. Contemprary accounts and reports from his era of his fights have him firmly placed as a boxing master. Not a defensive minded fighter per se, but more so a great ring general who had a great defense. He seems to have been a master of feinting, and from what I can see, positional sense.

He defeated George Dixon early in his career, whom I believe fought more championship rounds than any other fighter in history, am I right? I'm sure I've read that somewhere, and that he was actually the first black world champion too. Whatever those accompanying facts may be, what we know is that he was an all time great and that he seemed to not be able to do much with Jim Driscoll.

Whilst Driscoll was plying his trade as a young man, the world champion was a great one, and an active one. Abe Attell compiled an all time great resume by defending his title against the fine opposition that his era threw at him, and by fighting much more than only when his bauble was up for grabs. In 1909, Driscoll, at age 29, well versed in his profession from years of wowing his public, fought Abe Atell over ten rounds in a non title contest. Although a newspaper decision or two were actually inked in favour of Attell, there were some viewers that found the bout so one sided that Driscoll was actually recognised on his home continent as champion of the world. We'll never realyl know the nature of the fight for sure I suppose.

What I can offer you is the aforementioned boxing lesson of the less prestigious (no disrespect intended) Frank Robson. Observe;

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LSDYJOFp7Q[/ame]

Allow me to get technical.

What I notice more so than anything else is the ring generalship. Without excessive movement, Driscoll makes the range totally his own. He looks as though he will be a stationary target himself, until his man repeatedly steps in and shapes up to throw a punch to duly be consistently met with nothing to hit. One step here, a short slide there, and Driscoll is the one with the wide open target to smash on, and that's where his punch selection plays a role. Driscoll slides to his right at times, and smashes in a short left hook within the same motion. Driscoll also uses the elbows it seems, when his man falls in, Driscoll leans over on him, uses the elbow in a subtle manner, gains the leverage, pushes his man off, then mounts that momentum by smashing repeated right hands down the middle to the jaw, and keeps that ****ing elbow up all the time. He goes to the body in the clinch, he's a busy practitioner and he just makes it so difficult for his man to ever leave his imprint on the bout. He strips his opponent of his identity.

His jab work and his feinting are also a major factor of why and how he is the ring general in there, he commands the ring, he calls the shots, you just participate.

Legend.

 

Thought that was Emile Griffith to be honest.

 

Nah, Griffith was second behind Dixon I believe, I have this book, the world encyclopedia of boxing, and at the back it has like an interesting facts section and it has a picture of emille griffith captioned 'emille griffith, only george dixon fought more championship rounds'

unless my memory is totally ****ed I'm pretty sure that's right

 

Ah OK, thought I read that, looks like it's wrong :good