Jimmy Wilde and his Tricks

As a Welshman I obviously have taken an oath to always insist Jimmy Wilde is the best boxer of all time, just ahead of a closing pack of Calzaghe, Driscoll, Thomas and more recently Selby.

Others may disagree with this top five but then they aren't Welsh and are quite obviously just anti-Welsh.

For those that don't know Jimmy Wilde weighed in usually at between 6-7 stone in weight and was regularly beating people weighing in at 1-2 stone heavier than himself.

Have been reading 'Hitting and Stopping' by Jimmy Wilde again and a few things that I hadn't really noticed stood out with regards to his techniques in the ring.

Movement / Defence

With regards to ring movement his main aim was to be as close to his opponent as possible, he never wanted to waste energy by moving in and out of range and would instead stay close and avoid punches with very slight movements to ensure he was always close enough to counter.

Offense

This is a very interesting aspect. Jimmy didn't seem to know where his power came from, it seems that timing was a massive part of this. He usually had speed and reflexes that would enable his to punch when he saw the other guy was about to punch him, meaning the other guy was likely to be moving towards his punch, increasing it's potency. He liked to ensure he was hitting the other guy as hard and frequently as possible and commented about other boxers not knowing how to jab.

He would ensure that every punch he threw was send as hard as possible in order to make the other guy cautious. He knew that at his size he would not stand up to people that charged him as he was outweighed and usually outreached by all of them.

Tricks  

One thing that he used to do that was a little tricky was that when he saw the muscles twitch in his opponents upper body he would aim a punch at the bicep of that arm. The aim was to do this 2-3 times at the start of a fight and it would take a lot of sting out of the punches for the rest of the fight.

Missing with his right hands would be another way to open a guy up. If the opponent was a cautious fighter and would try to stay in his shell as he was worried about Wilde's reputation Jimmy would look to throw a few missed right hands. Making sure these right hands looked like they weren't missed on purpose, this would make the opponent feel he was overrated and start to get a little more confidence before Jimmy would start to really unload on him.

In recent times has there been a boxer as similarly complete as The Ghost with the Hammer in his Hand?

Hi Huw, I would say that (the recently namechecked here) Herol Graham had a similar sixth sense when it came to figuring out his opponent's moves.I should think that you have read Wilde's autobiography ,"Boxing Was My Business" which I think is an under-the-radar classic.
On another note, you might be interested that I buttonholed Gruff Rhys on a Great Western train in 2013,after he'd done a gig in Bristol.As we went through Cardiff Central I told him about Jimmy Wilde,as he sadly was assaulted there in his later years.He'd never heard about him, and the anecdote had the feel of tumbleweed drifting (as per most of my comments here too,yes)but as his latter solo album was about an unacknowledged Welsh hero, I like to think he might possibly remember the name Jimmy Wilde.
Cheers,Andy

andygf wrote:Hi Huw, I would say that (the recently namechecked here) Herol Graham had a similar sixth sense when it came to figuring out his opponent's moves.I should think that you have read Wilde's autobiography ,"Boxing Was My Business" which I think is an under-the-radar classic.
On another note, you might be interested that I buttonholed Gruff Rhys on a Great Western train in 2013,after he'd done a gig in Bristol.As we went through Cardiff Central I told him about Jimmy Wilde,as he sadly was assaulted there in his later years.He'd never heard about him, and the anecdote had the feel of tumbleweed drifting (as per most of my comments here too,yes)but as his latter solo album was about an unacknowledged Welsh hero, I like to think he might possibly remember the name Jimmy Wilde.
Cheers,Andy

Thanks for the response Andy.

If only Graham was Welsh he would have been up there!

I am a huge fan of Graham and he was a very clever fighter. There was an in depth interview with him where he was talking about his career (think it was on Sky with Johnny Nelson) where he was saying that he was the one that gave Ingle his 'style' to pass on to other fighters as when he arrived at that gym there was nobody fighting in a similar style.

One thing I found interesting about him and his style was the very wide stance he used to have and this he said was one of the reasons he was so elusive. His opponents would be near his foot and Herol would be leaning towards them but when they threw a punch he could shift weight to his back foot and be out of reach. Really simple but yet so effective.

A shame the better known Brits at the time (Eubank, Benn, Watson, Collins) didn't seem to want anything to do with him.

Last I heard,a few days ago, Graham was in hospital after some complications. Didn't sound good.

Does anybody know if he's OK?

I grew up watching Herol on grandstand and was a huge fan. Even met him in B&Q in Sheffield. Walked rounded the potting isle and he was there!

Sadly, I think he knew how good he was and took it for granted a bit. I thought he was cruising the McCallum fight then chose to show boat and box out the rounds. The Jackson fight another example of just being too sure of himself.

Graham is apparently on the mend but has been extremely ill it would appear. Whilst we're vaguely on the subject of books Herol's is worth a read. He has had it tough post boxing but comes across as a good guy. Bit of a legend round my neck of the woods is Graham.

Rowley wrote:Graham is apparently on the mend but has been extremely ill it would appear. Whilst we're vaguely on the subject of books Herol's is worth a read. He has had it tough post boxing but comes across as a good guy. Bit of a legend round my neck of the woods is Graham.

Cheers for the tip Rowley, will get this.

Rowley wrote:Graham is apparently on the mend but has been extremely ill it would appear. Whilst we're vaguely on the subject of books Herol's is worth a read. He has had it tough post boxing but comes across as a good guy. Bit of a legend round my neck of the woods is Graham.

Book arrived yesterday, chuffed to bits that I had brought a 'like new' book on Amazon and it turns out it was actually a signed book. The geeky collector in me was close to having a semi.

Only around 50 pages in so far but he comes across as a very funny likeable guy, even if the subject matter is very difficult at times.

Thanks again for the recommendation.