Mexican Joe Rivers

Mexican Joe Rivers (born Jose Ybarra, March 19, 1892 – June 26, 1957) was an American boxer in the lightweight class whose ring career lasted from 1910 to 1923.

Early life Rivers was born in Los Angeles on March 19, 1892, to Andrew Ybarra and Mary Estrada. He was a fourth generation Californian. He was an indigenous American.

Johnny Kilbane took on Rivers in 1911 and outboxed him in the twenty-round bout. A rematch also went to Kilbane. Rivers was described as 'a regular bear-cat scrapper, a hit-and-miss, hammer-and-tongs battler, who took a lot of stopping'.

Panoramic photo of Wolgast–Rivers boxing match, July 4, 1912, at Vernon Arena On January 1, 1912, he knocked out former World Bantameight Champion Frankie Conley. Around this time, Rivers was described "as fast as chain lightning, and a stinging puncher to boot", and one commentator claimed he was "probably the best youngster [Los Angeles has] turned out down that way."

On July 4, 1912, he fought Ad Wolgast for the lightweight title. At the beginning of the thirteenth round, he and Wolgast both landed punches that sent the other down. Slert died in 1918 and Rivers remarried in 1924 to Opal Dean Case in Orange County, California.

Rivers was incorrectly reported to have died in 1918 after enlisting in World War I, when the SS Tuscania, a ship he was serving on, was torpedoed.

By 1955 he was living alone, in a windowless room on West Second Street in Los Angeles. His only possession of value was his father's 200-year-old violin, which he played daily.

He died on June 26, 1957, in Inglewood, California. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles.