Was Jimmy Wilde the greatest 'little guy' ever?

Born in Wales in 1892 to the son of a coal miner, Jimmy Wilde, aka 'the mighty atom', started boxing at the age of 16 in local fair grounds where he would challenge local hard men in order to make ends meat. The onlooking crowds gasped in amazement as Wilde took on, and beat, all comers regardless of their size and weight, often scoring knockouts against men twice his size.

Officially, Wilde turned professional in December 1910, where the young Welshman fought a no contest with Les Williams in Pontypridd. This somewhat medicore start was not, however, a sign of things to come as 'little Jimmy' embarked on a 103 unbeaten run, seeing him capture the British 7 stone championship with an eighth round KO of Billy Padden, a relitive novice from Glasgow.

Wilde's impressive winning streak came to an end, however, when he challenged Tancy Lee for the vacant European Flyweight Title. Wilde, outweighed officially by almost a stone, was finally stopped in the 17th round (of twenty).

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. 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. On the 26th June of that year, 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, came to an end just after the half way mark when 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.

Jimmy Wilde continued winning until the 12th December 1918, when he was defeated by the then Bantamweight World Champion Memphis Moore (54-6-13), an opponent who was rumoured to outweigh Wilde by 14 pound on fight night. Like his first defeat against Lee, Wilde, somewhat dubiously, won the rematch against Moore, defeating the American on points over twenty rounds. In 1920, Wilde also defeated the likes of Frankie Mason (62-5-11), Battling Al Murray (26-4), and Patsy Wallace in a bout which drew the then largest crowd in Canadian boxing history.

Wilde's career ended with back to back defeats however. In 1921 he was knocked out by Pete Herman (49-9-6) in the 17th and, after a two year lay off, lost to Pancho Vella (62-4-3) via a 7th round stoppage, sending the Welshmen into retirement.

Jimmy Wilde's record, however, doesn't do him justice. While finishing with a record of 137-4-2 with 100 knockouts, Wilde himself claimed to have fought over 800 times, winning the majority. In 1990, Wilde was elected into the Boxing Hall of Fame and, two years later, was voted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame. A decade later, Ring Magazine voted Wilde as the 3rd greatest puncher of all time, behind Joe Louis and Sam Langford respectively.

Jimmy Wilde died in 1969.

Can Jimmy Wilde claim to be the greatest 'little guy' (Strawweight - Bantamweight) ever? I think so.