The forgotten story of… the man who sought revenge for Jimmy Wilde

Words such as 'great' and 'legend' are all too often misused by scribes seeking to venerate the latest sporting sensation. Few sportsmen or women truly deserve such lustrous accolades; in an age dominated by hype it's easy to lose perspective on the achievements of the people who perform for our entertainment. But one man from boxing's past who fully deserves the lavish praise still rightly thrown his way is the incomparable Welshman Jimmy Wilde.

Often conceding more than a stone, this pale-faced, fragile-looking former pit boy – too small even to be a fully fledged flyweight – demolished the finest fly and bantamweights of his day. He scored a century of inside-the-distance wins from 134 victories (and just four losses) in 148 recorded fights. Few boxers of any country or era commanded a nation's respect like Wilde. The loss of his world flyweight crown to Filipino great Pancho Villa, in June 1923, broke the hearts of fight fans all over Britain.

This isn't a piece about Wilde, however, but one of his devoted fans. A fellow fighter who admired the little Welshman so much that he threw away his own domestic prospects to travel to America, in the hope of bringing Wilde's world crown back home.

Continue reading:

http://news.boxrec.com/news/2011/forgotten-story-of%E2%80%A6-man-who-sought-revenge-jimmy-wilde

Seen this on twitter earlier it's a great story.

Great article. While iv always felt that Widle never gets the recognition he deserves (especially on here) this Frank Ash gets my total respect

What a fascinating tale. Thanks for sharing, alex.

Windy considering you were ringside how did you score the fight with Ash and Villa?

prettyboykev wrote:Windy considering you were ringside how did you score the fight with Ash and Villa?

Ha !

Awfully close, kev, but I thought Villa took the championship rounds to edge it.

HumanWindmill wrote:

prettyboykev wrote:Windy considering you were ringside how did you score the fight with Ash and Villa?

Ha !

Awfully close, kev, but I thought Villa took the championship rounds to edge it.

Im suprised you managed to see the fight considering you were so drunk celebrating your 40th birthday earlier that afternoon

Thanks guys. Glad the article was of interest!

Fascinating article, and thanks for sharing.

Thanks Alex, great stuff.

Steffan wrote:Great article. While iv always felt that Widle never gets the recognition he deserves (especially on here) this Frank Ash gets my total respect

Would that be the same Wilde who regularly tops folks lists of the top ten Brits of all time Steffan?

That would be him Jeff, yes. In fact I'm not too sure I've seen a bad word written about Jimmy on 606v2.

Fear not Fists think I have cleared this one up, am fairly certain this is the example of Wilde not getting his respect on here we are dealing with.

https://www.606v2.com/t11384-606v2-official-british-all-time-rankings

I think the closest I've seen to a Wilde insult on here was me saying he beats Benny Lynch 9/10!!!!

Ah well there you have it, silly me.

prettyboykev wrote:I think the closest I've seen to a Wilde insult on here was me saying he beats Benny Lynch 9/10!!!!

So it's all your fault. I hope you're proud of yourself.

For my sins I shall go and watch a Johnny Nelson fight on youtube. My humblest apologises to Steffan, Joe Calzaghe, John Hartson, Charlotte Church and the rest of the Welsh population. Oh I almost forgot and sorry to the

thanks, and do check out his book "Fighting was my business", as reviewed on Rowley's book thread by myself-albeit as brief review.

Seriously give it a rest Steffan you're so bloody boring, for the record there isn't a british boxer who comes close to having as much respect shown towards him than Jimmy Wilde, my name is in itself a homage to 'The Ghost With A Hammer In His Hand', previous names have included 'The Mighty Atom' and 'The Furious Freak'. Now you could debate the article posted instead jumping on the everyone hates the welsh bandwagon for the umpteenth time, why you've not been banned yet is beyond me.

I wrote that on Tue 30 Aug 2011 - 20:43

I have been banned...from mentioning nationality

Steffan wrote:I wrote that on Tue 30 Aug 2011 - 20:43

I have been banned...from mentioning nationality

Well theres a surprise

So why bring up Wildes lack of respect when it's quite clearly nonsense?

Imperial Ghosty wrote:So why bring up Wildes lack of respect when it's quite clearly nonsense?

For the record there are only 2 people on here who I have seen saying Wilde fought nobodys his record isnt as good as people think etc

The rest are ok though

Maybe my comment was a bit over the top but there are a couple who dont rate him thats all I was saying

So every boxer has to be rated the same by everyone then? There are posters who don't rate Ali as the be all and end all, while others have questionned Robinsons level of opposition at Welterweight where he's seen as untouchable but strangely you jump on it when something is said about Wilde.

What can I say im just a bad seed

A pain we could do without.

People like you need people like me...so you can point your finger and say...thats the bad guy

Strange though that you commented on my Manny v Floyd record article quite a few times. Suprising considering how much of a pain my articles are...

Bachgen drwg!

A beautiful piece for any connoisseurs..........

Excellent article about Wilde and the fighters of his day..