Who Is The Best Black Heavyweight Never To win the Crown?

Those questions dont seem relevant to the OP.
It doesnt ask who is the most likely to win.
Does Bivins beat Louis? Probably not, however, do Langford, Jackson, Wills etc beat Louis? Doubtful.
Does Bivins ability get penalised because he had to compete with a consensus top 2 ATG?
It shouldnt in this instance as that is not what is being asked.

 

To be honest, I don't think that Bivins would have beaten Johnson, or Dempsey.

I don't think that he would have beaten Langford or Wills either.

He just wasn't in the class of the others.

 

Quite possibly right, although his run from 42-45 included some decent scalps. Even post war he had some good victories, granted he was more inconsistent during this period
I think he would deserve to be in the conversation.

 

Elmer Ray over Jimmy Bivins


Ray beat Walcott and Charles in 46-47

 

Earnie Shavers.

He knocked out Jimmy Ellis in one round, Ken Norton in one round, stopped Jimmy Young in three rounds, floored and stopped Bugner in two, nearly beat Ali for the title, nearly beat Holmes for the title ... he came pretty close against two of the very best champs ever.

Ali and Holmes were better than Jack Johnson - if we're comparing Shavers to guys who couldn't beat Johnson during his era.

 

Lionel Butler

 

:good

 

Good one, made me think of Ron Lyle though since he was able to KO Shavers.

Lyle also had many very good wins:

Bonavena
Mathis
Ellis
Shavers

Ali- gave Ali quite a bit of trouble before getting stopped
Foreman- my guess is everyone here has seen this fight.

To answer the OP question though I'd have to cast a vote for Langford.

 

I always felt Young beat Ali and Norton add that to his two Lyle wins and his win over George and that is quite impressive.

His style left a lot to desire though and he had a very short prime with many losses on the front and back end.

 

I think that Ike Ibeabuchi could beat the boxers mentioned. He is my pick.

 

I like Ike alot he passed the eye test in my book and he holds two great wins over prime quality contenders of the 90s. However that is it. He doesn't hold one other quality win in his career. He gets an incomplete. It's a shame too because he really could of been the genuine article.

 

Impressive list of names but was Ellis Norton young anywhere near there primes when shavers knocked them out?

Shavers also Lost to below .500 fighter Bob stalling smack in the middle of his own prime

 

Lionel Butler would have sparked Shavers early.

 

I would say that Jimmy Bivins is not so much the Peter Jackson or Harry wills of his era, he is more the Old George Godfrey or Kid Norfolk.

If there was a Harry Wills figure in Bivins time, it would have been Jersey Joe Walcott.