Jimmy Wilde, 'The Mighty Atom', gets a bit overrated IMO. No doubt amongst the greatest lower weight fighters of all time, I do think, be it due to incomplete records or knowledge on the lower weights guys of that era being hazy for even hardened historians, Wilde has a few stand out victories but is hardly on the Armstrong, Greb, Moore, etc etc field (IMO of course) My question is, with his style, how would he get on today? Let's assume, completely hypothetically, that he comes in as a Straw of Light Fly (completely feasible, he was a small Fly in a time with no divisions smaller than that) and that he retains all of his power despite now wearing 8oz Reyes. We have seen fighters succeed with a low guard; Wilde seems to employ this, bombing shots when he saw opportunities. He could walk a bullrushing opponent onto shots, and employed pretty decent upper body movement to avoid shots. He was, by all accounts, strong for a little guy as well. Some of this can be seen in the below video. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igryTKKR2Nw[/ame] Jimmy Wilde of course, was renowned as a big puncher. Many tales abound of his ability to knock out much bigger men, but I have never really found much evidence of him sparking very good big men. He of course, for a small Flyweight already, holds the advantage in fights with ATG Bantam Joe Lynch. Very impressive stuff there. Sadly, the only footage that there is of Wilde is of him in competitive losses, and some of him fighting a bigger guy that I know little about to be honest. His most famous opponent, Pancho Villa, doesn't look that old-fashioned at all IMO. His ability to bomb with either hand can be seen in the footage of his fight with a past his best Wilde. Amazingly, the footage has been removed from youtube by the looks of itatsch That was kinda'inherant in proving my point with enough footage to get everyone involved. I guess anyone wanting to make any serious stylistic analysis of Wilde will have to have already seen that footage. Sorry. Tancy Lee was vanquished in the rematch, but this was Wildes first defeat; fatigued after many rounds and saved by his corner. I do like how he can measure distance with a jab on the inside, and then get off more shots. His right uppercut on the inside was reminiscent of how Duran could make space for his. Overall, not a great vieo to judge Wildes ability. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKZdcBFE_7Q[/ame] Wilde seems pretty durable by all accounts. He has stiff power in his shots, and decent enough reflexes that he could probably operate with the style we see him employ here. Would be get blown away by Segura early? Or would the extra sting in his shots be able to dissuade Segura the way Calderon could only hope to do (and did briefly in their first fight) Now of course Chang smashes Wilde to bits, I know this already:yep In short, it's not really 'how old fashioned is Jimmy Wilde', but rather, could he get by at the top level with that style. Is he really any different from say, Darchinyan in his awkward crouch? Or Segura with his free-swining style, too styles that aren't particularly 'modern'. Without the Villa footage this thread has suffered, still opinions please chaps :good
He'd be a factor today. That type of unorthodoxy is not always a disadvantage. Darchinyan is a prime example, Joe Calzaghe another. If you do things weirdly, it often confuses people that are not that smart or great technicians themselves. They don't know how to deal with it quite frankly. Wilde looks extremely weird with his hands down, squared on a lot of the time, counterpunching style. Although to be honest, at the time this wasn't too much of a revelation, its just strange to our eyes now. It doesn't look too pretty but I wouldn't like to bet against it being effective if his power is as its famed to be. Of course we'll never know about things like that for certain.
That's my point TFFP, 'modern fighters'would find Wildes approach very awkward, even if it wasn't odd back in his day. Him being the best of that era down at that weight makes me believe he'd be amongst the most awkward, and therefore dangerous regardless of era.
He'd be the best at straw thats for sure. There is very rarely any competition down there. Not many humans can weigh so little so the talent pool is diluted. He'd make that weight comfortably as well. He'd be at a bit of a disadvantage compared to modern flys who are probably the equivalent to the bantams of that era.
True, but his wins over Lynch support the claim of him being freakishly strong. He was out sized by most.
I think he is less 'old fashioned' as 'unorthodox', he has to figure big at any Flyweight division IMO.
Definitely unorthodox to a fighter from today, and unorthodox essentially works in any era. You don't post enough any more young Greg. I'll give you a buzz later this week, try and talk some sense into ya' :deal :good