Wales has produced some great boxing legends but perhaps non greater than James Wilde “The Mighty Atom”. Jimmy Wilde was the first official world flyweight champion and was rated by American boxing writer Nat Fleischer, as well as many other boxing professionals as "the greatest flyweight ever".

Standing at just over five foot and weighing in at 100 pounds, Wilde possessed a phenomenal punch that earned him his string of nicknames.

Wilde was known by a string of nicknames - the Mighty Atom, the Tylorstown Terror, and the Ghost With A Hammer In His Hand.

Jimmy Wilde's was born in Craig Berthlwyd (Pentwyn Deintyr) (now known as the Graig), Quakers Yard, Merthyr Tydfil but his parents later moved to the village of Tylorstown in the Rhondda Valley when Wilde was twelve years old.

Wilde was the son of a coal miner and he also worked in the coal pits. Wilde stature was small enough to allow him to crawl through gullies impassable to most of his colleagues.

Wilde first fought at the age of sixteen in fairground boxing booths, where crowds were amazed by his toughness and ability to knock down much larger opponents, most of which were local toughmen weighing around 200 lbs. In 1910 Wilde married his wife Elizabeth and was a father the same year. He left Tylorstown Colliery in 1913. In 1916 Wilde joined the army and was sent to Aldershot as a PT instructor.

Boxrec lists Wilde’s fight as being officially 148 with 4 losses and 2 Draws, however these figures are grossly underestimated and counting his unofficial fights and fair booth fights the number is most probable in the hundreds and often with opponents much heavier than him.

Wilde's officially listed debut was on 26 December 1910, when he fought Les Williams to a no-decision in three rounds. His first win came on 1 January 1911, when he knocked out Ted Roberts in the third round.

Wilde went undefeated in 103 bouts, all of which were held in Britain, a remarkable achievement. In the middle of that streak, on 31 December 1912, he won the British 7 stone championship by beating Billy Padden by an eighteenth-round knockout in Glasgow.

He finally lost his undefeated record when he challenged Tancy Lee for the vacant British flyweight title and Europe championship on 15 January 1915 in London. Wilde was knocked out in the seventeenth round (of twenty).

Wilde then embarked on a sixteen-fight knockout streak, and on 14 February 1916, he won the British flyweight title by beating Joe Symonds by a knockout in round twelve at the National Sporting Club in London.

On 24 April 1916 Wilde beat Johnny Rosner by a knockout in the eleventh round at Liverpool Stadium to win the IBU world flyweight title.

On 13 May 1916 he had two fights on the same day at Woolwich Dockyard (against Darkey Saunders and Joe Magnus), winning both by knockout, both fights combined lasting less than five rounds.

On 18 December1916  Wilde became recognised as the first World Flyweight Champion (the IBU title was only recognised in Europe) when he defeated Young Zulu Kid of the United States whose seconds threw in the towel during the eleventh round of their bout at the Holborn Stadium.

In 1917, he retained the title by beating George Clarke by a knockout in four. With that win, he also won the European title and recovered the British title.

On the 13 January 1921 - He lost by a knockout in 17 to former world bantamweight champion Pete Herman, who outweighed Wilde by more than a stone (14 pounds).

That was the fight that marked his return to Britain after touring the United States all of 1920. The Americans grew to love Wilde and to this day he is revered by fight fans Stateside. Gene Tunney said of Jimmy Wilde, "He is the greatest fighter I ever saw". In 1959 Jimmy Wilde was inducted into the American Boxing Hall of Fame.

After two years - On the 18 of June 1923 Wilde returned to the ring at the Polo Grounds, New York, New York, United States, out of a sense of obligation to defend his title against Philippine - Francisco Guilledo, who boxed under the name of Pancho Villa, he lost  by a knockout in seven to the Philippines' first world champion, Wilde announced his retirement.

Jimmy Wilde lived the last few years of his life in the Cadoxton district of Barry, South Wales. With his final boxing winnings, Wilde entered into several business schemes, including a Welsh cinema chain, none was successful and he spent his final years in poverty. In 1965, Wilde suffered a serious mugging at a train station in Cardiff, from which he never recovered. His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1967, and two years later on the 10^th of march 1969, Wilde died in a hospital in Whitchurch. He was buried in Barry Cemetery.

In 1990, Wilde was elected into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame as a member of that institution's original class. In 1992 he was also inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame and one of his prize winning belts is part of the organisation's display.