Born in Dry Branch, Georgia but fighting out of Cleveland,
Ohio, Jimmy Bivins simply loved to fight, terrorising the greats of his era with his aggressive style. While being inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999, he would be largely forgotten by the majority of fans, many of which look to the greats like Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Charley Burly, Joey Maxim, and Lloyd Marshall for their inspiration. Jimmy Bivins, however, brutalised them all.
Starting his professional career in freezing January
conditions in 1940, Bivins, then a Middleweight, knocked out the unimpressive Emory
Morgan in the second round. Having nicely plodded along for the first six
months of his career, Bivins’ first real test came against Frankie Hughes, a veteran
of almost 150 fights whom he beat via a decision over 8 rounds. Having mustered
a 14-0 record by September of that year, Jimmy would come up against the awe
inspiring, and future Middleweight kingpin, Charley Burley, who outweighed
Bivins by 8lbs on the night. Despite still being a relative novice to the game,
Bivins was to outpoint the great Burley, dropping only three rounds en route to
a 10 round unanimous decision. His first year was to end in disappointment,
however, as he lost a MD to Anton Christoforidis (whom he had previously beaten),
despite dropping him for a long 9 count in the second.
1941 would be a frustrating year for the ‘Cleveland
Spiderman’, as, having stepped you to Light Heavyweight, he lost three of his
eight fights that year, including dropping a ten round decision to the veteran
Melio Bettina. He did, however, manage to defeat the future Hall of Famer Teddy
Yarosz. 1942 started just as badly with Bivins losing to Bob Pastor via Split
Decision. Jimmy Bivins would not lose again for the next four years.
This impressive record began when he won a decision over the future
great Joey Maxim (who would later ‘stop’ Sugar Ray Robinson, the man universally
considered to the Greatest of all time) over 10
rounds. He avenged his loss to Bob Pastor, before taking on the greatest Light
Heavyweight of all time, the ‘Cincinnati Cobra’ Ezzard Charles in a fight for the
ages. Even with Charles landing heavy blows on Bivins, the ‘Spiderman’ would
simply batter Ezzard for ten gruelling rounds, knocking down the pound for
pound king a total of seven times, six of which were for the count of 9.
Charles, however, just would not quit, rising each time to return fire. Charles
managed to last until the final bell, but lost a clear unanimous decision.
Bivins’ winning streak continued by knocking out the great
Lloyd Marshall (whom himself had a more than impressive record) in the 13th
round. Bivin’s power had seemingly come into its own when he stopped up to
Heavyweight. He twice outpointed the very good Lee Q Murray, dropping him in
the process, KO’ed Buddy Walker (66-18-5) in just two rounds, as well as
stopping Buddy Scott (82-18-6) in four. With his impressive record continuing,
a fight with the formidable Archie Moore was scheduled for late 1945 in the
Lakefront Stadium. Entering the ring with 72 wins to his name, and having just
beaten Lloyd Marshall himself, the concussive power of Moore barely had time to show
itself as Bivins knocked Archie down three times in the second. Controversey surrounded
the third round however, as, following a slip, Bivins hit Moore with a hard
uppercut while he was on the canvas. After a five minute recovery period, Bivins
continued to batter the helpless Moore at will, knocking him down twice in the
5th, before stopping him in the 6th. With this win, Bivins
cemented himself in boxing folklore.
Bivins’ run would finally come to an end at the start of
1946, dropping a very strange decision to the great Jersey Joe Walcott. The
fight, which saw Bivins on the canvas in the third, was scored by one judge as
6-4 in favour of Bivins, while another, somewhat dubiously, scored it 9 rounds
to 1 in favour of Walcott. The deciding judge, having already scored the fight
to Bivins by 5-4-1, overturned his decision and declared Jersey Joe the winner
due to the third round knockdown.
Jimmy Bivins was never really the same fighter after he lost
his four year unbeaten record. He came out on the losing side of three further
fights with Lee Q Murray, he lost a decision to Ezzard Charles in late 1946
and was stopped in four by the same fighter a year later. Archie Moore also
gained his revenge on Bivins, battering the Cleveland fighter into submission
in 1947, putting him down in the third, seventh and eighth before Jimmy failed
to answer for the 9th. He would have three further fights with Moore,
being stopped in two of them. Sandwiched between his losses to Moore, Bivins
lost to Ezzard Charles for the third time, as well as dropping a decision
against Joe Louis, while Joey Maxim also gained his revenge, winning a split
decision. Over this somewhat mixed period, Bivins did manage KO wins over Booker
Beckwith and Watson Jones, while also outpointing Curtis Sheppard, Turkey
Thompson and Pat Valentino. Bivins was to retire from the ring in 1955 after a
points victory over Mike DeJohn, some 15 years after making his pro debut.
For all of his greatness, Jimmy Bivins never once battled
for a World Title in the three weight classes he fought in. What is even more
frustrating, footage of the great man from Cleveland in his prime remains rare,
with only his late losses to Moore and Charles available on YouTube. Bivins
celebrated his 90th birthday in 2009, ten years after he was
inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame. He finished his career with a record of 83-25-1.
Jimmy Bivins – the man who defeated the greats of his day
remains forgotten by most.
Speak Your Mind