Jimmy Bivins, Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Lloyd Marshall,all great light heavies fighting in my golden age,the 1940s. I saw Jimmy Bivins when he was in his prime, in 1945 @MSG..He fought a draw with Melio Bettina,former light heavy champion...Bettina a tough southpaw,was licked in his prime by the great Billy Conn... I believe that the Billy Conn of the first Louis fight, in 1941, was the best of all these lightheavies... Conn stopped the elusive Bob Pastor also who once defeated Jimmy Bivins, so good was young Conn, along with Jimmy Bivins...
Conn did the better against most common opponents.He's underrated on this board i feel. Not that i want to dog on Bivins.He's a great fighter too, though not as instantly impressive as a lot of his contemporaries imo.
Agree with you Lora. Conn is extraordinary. Depending upon how you feel about 1 or 2lbs here (so Conn weighting 161 or 162 rather than 160) he is arguably undefeated at his prime weight. Having turned pro without any kind of amature background he has many early losses, but the only man to beat him without also losing to him once he hit his prime, was The Brown Bomber.
Nice pic of Marshall. Bivins is a true legend his resume is stacked fought the very highest level of fighter and many quality wins. You just changed your avater, how much of an ass do I look like.lol.
Bivins during his 42-46 peak is a top 5 LH IMO. But after that he's beatable and starts losing to people he beat before. Was there some reason for this?
Bivins stood only 5'9", if that. Back in 1999, I was the MC when we put up a monument of Joe Louis in Pompton Lakes, where Louis and Robinson use to train. A lot of boxing greats attended, and I had the pleasure of introducing them all, including Emile Griffith, Jimmy Bivins, Coley Wallace, Lou Duva, Bert Sugar, Louis's son, Ali and Frazier's daughters, Chuck Wepner, etc. I sat down and talked to Jimmy for about an hour. He was very nice to everyone. He was rated #1 in the Heavyweight Class during the early 1940's. He, Harry Wills and Nino Valdez, are the only Heavyweights to be rated #1 for more then a year, that never fought for the title.
Henry, 1. What about Harry Wills? 2. Valdes lost his # 1 rating from March 1954-September 1954...so its not like Valdes was # 1 contender for 2 straight years. Btw, do you know how long Bivins reach was? I have heard 80 inches
Your right about Wills. I made the change when I read what I put down. Valdez, was rated #1 at years end for 2 straight years, BUT not continuously. I will have to check out Bivins reach, we have 76" on BoxRec.