Jimmy Walsh (July 18, 1883 – November 23, 1964) was an American boxer who claimed the World Bantamweight Championship on March 29, 1905, when he defeated Monte Attell, in a controversial six-round bout at the National Athletic Club in Philadelphia.^[1] His claim was recognized by the World Boxing Association, at the time the National Boxing Association. The fight ended in a disqualification called by the referee when Walsh sent a low right hook that landed below the belt of Attell. Most sources believed Walsh had led throughout the fight and that the blow should have been considered legal, which may be why Walsh was credited with the title by the National Boxing Association.^[2][3]

He unsuccessfully challenged Abe Attell twice and Johnny Kilbane once for the world featherweight championship. He was managed through most of his career by Eddie E. Keevin, who also managed Black heavyweight contender Sam Langford.^[4][2]

Boxing as an amateur as early as 1901, Walsh began boxing professionally around 1902 in the Boston area, winning all but one of his better publicized fights between April 1902 and March 1904.

Walsh fought Albert "Al" Delmont eleven times, winning seven, losing once, and drawing three times.^[5] At least five of these meetings were early in his career in 1902, and six of these bouts are recorded in his BoxRec record.^[2][3]

He fought Patsy McKenna twice in November and December 1902 in Boston and then Salem, Massachusetts, drawing in six rounds both times.^[2]

His victory against Johnny Sheehan on February 20, 1903, in Boston was booked as the "105 pound championship of the East" and was one of his first eight-round bouts, in an early career that took place almost exclusively at Boston boxing clubs and almost always in six-round bouts.^[2]

His bout against Willie Shumaker on March 26, 1903 at the Essex Athletic Club in Boston was billed as the American 105 pound title and ended in a ten-round points decision in his favor, though he was down in the first round.

Walsh's boxing dominance was becoming more apparent by 1904. On March 3, 1904, in a twelve-round bout at the Riverview Athletic Club with Jack Desmond in Lowell, Massachusetts, Walsh's opponent was in a dazed condition by the third round, and it became apparent to those present, Desmond "was not in Walsh's class." The draw ruling, in the opinion of the Boston Post, was a clear victory for Walsh as they wrote Desmond "nearly collapsed" by the final round.^[6]

On March 29, 1905, Walsh first claimed the World Bantamweight Title in a bout against Monte Attell, brother of champion Abe, in Philadelphia that ended when the referee called a disqualification against Walsh in the sixth round. One source noted that Walsh, "had the better of the bout from the start", and that the blow which occurred two minutes into the sixth round was accidental.^[8] The National Boxing Association recognized Walsh's claim to the Bantamweight Championship. The St. Louis Dispatch, noted that according to most spectators ringside, the "blow was a fair one", though it was a "terrific right hook", and did notable injury to Attell. Controversy arose as to who won the bout as many observers considered the blow legal, and that "Walsh completely had Attell at his mercy throughout the entire contest."^[3]

Monte Attell and Walsh fought again on December 21, 1908, in a fifteen-round draw at the Colliseum in San Francisco. The bout was not considered a title fight because Walsh was unable to make the agreed upon weight. The Montreal Gazette noted that Walsh had the better of the last four rounds, with Attell having a slight edge in the first three rounds, but that the boxing was very close for much of the fight.^[9]

On January 29, 1909, Walsh met Jimmy Reagan at the Dreamland Rink in San Francisco for a twelve-round World Bantamweight Title match. According to the Oakland Tribune, "Reagan led in every one of the fifteen rounds with Walsh and was entitled to the verdict," though admitting the "title was a very close one."^[10] Joe Woodman, Walsh's own manager, admitted that Walsh had been beaten in eight of the twelve rounds, though it was a surprise to much of the audience who believed that Reagan had been overmatched with Walsh in the days before the fight. Walsh was considered to have a more clever boxing form and finesse, particularly in the early rounds, but Reagan was the aggressor, delivering more blows, and taking the initiative in the final rounds.^[11] Reagan was only eighteen at the time of his victory over Walsh and had fought in relatively few major professional bouts.^[12]

Walsh lost to World Featherweight Champion Abe Attell three times in title matches; on September 12, 1907 for a ten-round decision in Indianapolis, on December 7, 1906, in a ten-round TKO in Los Angeles, and on February 22, 1906 for a fifteen-round decision in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in which Attell "badly punished" Walsh. Not surprisingly, Attell was the odds on favorite for the December 1906 fight.^[13] He met Attell twice in non-title matches on April 3, 1913, in New York in a ten-round loss by decision and on October 24, 1912, in a twelve-round draw in Boston.^[2] After the April 3, 1913, New York bout, Walsh's manager Eddie Keevin filed charges against Attell with the New York boxing commission that Attell had used eye gouging against Walsh in their bout.^[14]

From 1920 to 1934, Walsh refereed 186 bouts. Despite never referring a world championship fight, he did referee bouts for world champions such as Battling Battalino, Benny Bass, Sammy Fuller, Charles 'Bud' Taylor, Kid Chocolate, Johnny Jadick, Isadore Schwartz, Fidel LaBarba, Frankie Genaro, Pancho Villa, Mike Ballerino, Johnny Dundee, Pete Latzo, and Kid Williams.^[22]

In late 1909, Walsh gave some boxing instruction to Charles Taft, son of President Taft, and to Theodore Roosevelt Jr., son of ex-President Teddy Roosevelt, who had taken boxing at Harvard.^[23] In February 1913, he was giving boxing instruction to the sons of several of Brookline, Massachusetts's wealthiest families.^[24]

Walsh retired from the ring in late 1914, having attained an exceptional record with only ten losses by decision in roughly 150 matches.^[25] According to one source, he worked as a head salesman for a cigar firm in Boston after retiring from boxing, and sent a son to the U.S. Naval Academy.^[26]

He died on November 23, 1964.

All information in this section is derived from BoxRec,^[27] unless otherwise stated.

• List of bantamweight boxing champions