Born: 6 December 1919 in Dry Branch, Georgia, USA.
Died: July 4, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Record: 112 fights, 86 wins (31 by KO/TKO), 25 Losses, 1 Drw.
Nickname: Cleveland Spider-Man.
Separation: Light-heavyweight and heavyweight.
Pro replied: 15 January 1940.
Career Breakdown of Jimmy Bivins
He had 20 fights in 1940, winning his first 19, including a knockout of Charley Burley, before losing a majority decision to Anton Christofordis on December 2. He had beaten Christofordis three weeks earlier. In his next fight, in January 1941, Christofordis beat Melio Bettina to become the National Boxing Association (NBA) light heavyweight champion.
He had an uneventful 1941, going 4-3 but getting a win over former NBA middleweight champion Teddy Yarosz.
1942 was a breakthrough year for Bivins as he defeated former middleweight champion Billy Soose and former light-heavyweight champion Gus Lesnevich in a non-title bout along with future champion Joey Maxim and title challengers Tami Mauriello and Lee Savold.
In 1943, Bivins won all nine of his fights, including wins over future heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles (voted by Ring Magazine in 2002), Christofordis, Mauriello, Lloyd Marshall, and Melio Bettina. At the end of the year, having previously been ranked No. 1 at light heavyweight, Bivins was ranked No. 1 at heavyweight by Ring Magazine.
In 1944 the heavyweight title was frozen during World War II with Joe Louis (below, right) and Bivins in the US Army, so Bivins did not get a title fight and only had one fight in 1944.
In 1945, Bivins had eight fights and was 7-0-1. He drew with Bettina in August, but knocked down Archie Moore six times and knocked Moore out in the sixth round.
He had eight fights in 1946. He had four wins in the first six weeks of the year but then lost three in a row, dropping a split decision to Jersey heavyweight champion Joe Walcott—a loss that ended Bivins’ 27-fight unbeaten streak. -also identified by Ezzard Charles.
In 1947 he was 8-3 in 11 fights, getting beaten inside the long distance by Charles and Moore.
1948 and had nine fights, winning six, but was defeated by majority decision by Moore, by points by Charles and split decision by Maxim.
1949 saw Jimmy as busy as ever with eight fights, winning five, but he was knocked out by Moore and lost a close decision to another future champion, Harold Johnson.
From 1950 to 1955 he remained busy but now he was losing more and more. In 1951 he was beaten by Moore again, in August of that year he finally fought the now champion Louis but lost on points (some say this was an exhibition match, but it went over 10 rounds, and Louis was declared the winner).
Bivins was beaten in 1952 by Charles. In September 1952, he released the 18-1 prospect Coley Wallace who got a victory over Rocky Marciano in the amateurs and was going to play Joe Louis in the movie “The Joe Louis Story”. Bivins retired in 1953 and made a brief comeback, winning two fights in 1955, beating future heavyweight contender Mike DeJohn in October and retiring.
Jimmy Bivins Fight Story
Bivins was a good track and field competitor but seeing Jack Johnson fight in a show made him consider boxing. Although born in Georgia, from the age of three, Bivins lived in Cleveland and it was Jesse (Cleveland) Owens who received a gold medal in the Olympics who recommended that he go into boxing instead of track and field because the pay was better! He won a silver medal at the 1949 National AAU championship and was champion the following year.
He topped 154 lbs but did most of his fights in the 175 to 190 range, at a time when anyone over 175 was considered a heavyweight. That is why he is rated as No. 1 in both light-heavyweight and heavyweight at times in his career.
During his career, Jimmy faced seven future Hall Of Fame boxers and defeated four, as well as eleven fighters who held world titles, defeating eight of them.
Between 1942 and 1946, he had an incredible 27-bout undefeated streak in which he earned victories over Joey Maxim, Tami Mauriello, Bob Pastor, Lee Savold, Ezzard Charles, Anton Christoforidis, Lloyd Marshall, Melio Bettina , and others who fight and knock. except for Archie Moore (pictured below).
It could be argued that if it wasn’t for World War II, he would have fought Joe Louis for the heavyweight title and had a chance to win, but instead, he had to settle for being the best wrestler at the time to never get the title. header image.
Bivins’ Personal Background
Bivins was married three times. His second wife, Dollree Mapp, had her own claim to fame. He was close to boxing and was arrested by police after a bomb exploded at Don King’s home (pictured below). His arrest was not directly related to the bombing but police searched his home and seized property and won a landmark US Supreme Court ruling on Search and Seizure.
HEMPSTEAD, NY – SEPTEMBER 26: Boxing promoter Don King attends the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York. The first of four debates for the 2016 Election, three for President and one for Vice President, is moderated by NBC’s Lester Holt. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images).
His third wife, Elizabeth, took good care of Bivins and worked as a truck driver and helped mentor young boxers at local gyms. Things got worse when Elizabeth died in 1995 and she went to live with her daughter.
After a while the neighbors worried about not seeing Bivins for a long time. Police entered her daughter’s home and found Bivins living in a filthy basement, emaciated and malnourished.
Her son-in-law was imprisoned for eight months and Bivins went to live with her sister before going to a nursing home, where she died of pneumonia in July 2012 at the age of 92.
He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999 and was posthumously inducted into the Californian Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015. The Cleveland City Council also named the park after the man known as the “Cleveland U-spider man”.
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