Joe Mesi: What's his story?

[Ruthless-RKO]

America is lacking.

Most big lads in the US rather play Basketball professionally or other sports... Don't blame them either..

[Caractacus]

Joe mesi was the real thing, check out the stare-down.
You can't fake confidence like that as a fighter.

[Seamus]

How good was Joe Mesi ? Without trying to give too simple an answer, I'd say he was slightly better than Monte Barrett and Vassiliy Jirov. He had both of those guys where he wanted them, but they survived and nearly finished him. Even with out the brain bleed, he would probably have fallen at the next hurdle.

[Caractacus]

Yeah, I stillL remember the extitement for Joe Mesi, especially from his Fan Base from the city of Buffalo (NY)

[vatech1983]

HE NEVER LOST A BOUT..............................

[gilgamesh]

How good was Joe Mesi ? Without trying to give too simple an answer, I'd say he was slightly better than Monte Barrett and Vassiliy Jirov. He had both of those guys where he wanted them, but they survived and nearly finished him. Even with out the brain bleed, he would probably have fallen at the next hurdle.

Even without giving "Too simple an answer" I think you nailed it perfectly.

[DrDuke]

The heavyweight division has certainly had it's ups and downs over the years. however, it has never been bad for this long of a period.

People have touched on some of the reasons. Right now, there are three heavyweights worth discussing. One concentrates on fighting senior citizens and won't fight the other two. He is biding his time until they get too old.
The other two have not fought in well over a year. All three have some strengths as well as glaring weaknesses.
The only saving grace has been that two of the three have been willing to fight watch other.

The fights the last many years have been mostly pretty boring. Seldom do you see two guys going all out.
I know a lot of people that follow basketball. Or football. Or baseball. Even know a few that follow tennis. I don't know one person (outside the boxrec bubble) who still follows boxing. Not one. Our local media virtually ignores it. National media doesn't cover it like it used to.

If I started following the sport much later than I did, and knew little about the history of the sport, (like some people on the boxrec) I and others long time fans would be more positive. Don't know.

If you don't see the difference in the landscape and the quality of fights between 2004-2015 and 2016-2021, you are probably better to stop torturing yourself and join your friends following tennis. Of course, we'll miss such a profound historian, but we''ll survive somehow...

[Ambling Alp II]

Yes the past five years have truly been magical in the heavyweight division. One great fight after another. Plus Joshua taking on one senior citizen after another. It has just been thrilling.

[DrDuke]

Yes the past five years have truly been magical in the heavyweight division. One great fight after another. Plus Joshua taking on one senior citizen after another. It has just been thrilling.

What's the point of this brilliant comedy challenge? Nobody suggested it was comparable with the greatest eras, but just better significantly than the previos one.

[margaret thatcher]

we could do with more fighters like tony galento, who was good enough to immediately hurt one of the heavyweight goats and then drop his ass

[Ambling Alp II]

Umm, OK...............

[Alguiffer]

I followed Baby Joe from his amateur days on. Always wanted to see him matched up with Derric Rossy. I ran into him last week will getting gas, still friendly and a nice kid to talk to.

[margaret thatcher]

I followed Baby Joe from his amateur days on. Always wanted to see him matched up with Derric Rossy. I ran into him last week will getting gas, still friendly and a nice kid to talk to.

what's he up to these days?

[Alguiffer]

I followed Baby Joe from his amateur days on. Always wanted to see him matched up with Derric Rossy. I ran into him last week will getting gas, still friendly and a nice kid to talk to.

what's he up to these days?

He owns and runs the Mesi Agency, Inc., which is an insurance company (home, auto insurance, etc.) serving the greater Western New York region. He has very high ratings from his customers and is very well liked in the local business community.
As a side note to you - I greatly enjoy reading your posts to BoxRec - your boxing knowledge and analysis is very strong. I also enjoy the great humor that you from time to time introduce into discussions!

[margaret thatcher]

thanks mate

[funso banjo baby]

Messi was in and around the Brian minto\vinnie maddalone level.

He built up a good record and attracted quite a bit of attention on a 'rocky' vibe that appealled to many.

Ultimately he was too open and used to miss 3-4 punch combos at the highest levels....never a recipe for further success for short guys.

[margaret thatcher]

no way, he was defo well beyond those guys, waaaaaay more fire power. not all white american hws are the same level my man

maddalone in his prime couldnt even beat juliius long, minto lost to 47 year old tony tubbs.

mesi as an amateur won 3 NY golden gloves, beat hasim rahman, and made the final of the olympic trials. as a pro he beat several guys the likes of minto and maddalone never would have, williamson, jirov, barret, and izon too. minto and maddalone are the type of guys they would've matched him with for a beatdown win

mesi obviously got hyped far more than most guys of his ability do, but he was a legit top 15ish hw for a while, he could fight

[HomicideHenry]

I remember when everyone kept saying he had a Marciano style, and one of The Rock's brothers quipped that Mesi reminded them of one of their brothers opponents ... Mesi is/was a nice man, interviewed him once.

Where he actually ranks, it's difficult to say. Right when he got over the hump, his career was over. Jirov was a good cruiserweight, but not a good heavyweight. Mesi struggled with him.

He wasn't a bum. He wasn't a hype job either. He graduated to contender status, by beating Barrett the "official" gatekeeper of the time. But his limitations were there to see.

I enjoyed watching his matches. He was a television fighter--- when that term still had a meaning, anyways. He was marketed well. All in all, he wasn't Brian Minto but he wasn't BJ Flores either. Somewhere in between those two.

[margaret thatcher]

i'd say his level was right around what bj's was at cruiser...obviously joe was better than bj as a heavy

[Seamus]

If Mesi had gotten a good medical report after the Jirov fight, does anyone know who his next likely opponent would have been ?

[Ruthless-RKO]

If Mesi had gotten a good medical report after the Jirov fight, does anyone know who his next likely opponent would have been ?

He would have started stepping up more I think.

After the Jirov fight, he took 2 years out and then went back to 4 round fights.

[HomicideHenry]

My memory is a bit faded but I do think that he was ranked ridiculously high like number four in the world at the time so it's possible he could have been fighting Wladimir Klitschko next.

Jesus Christ Almighty God bless you all

[Caractacus]

If Mesi had gotten a good medical report after the Jirov fight, does anyone know who his next likely opponent would have been ?

he really wanted to fight Hasim Rahman.

[funso banjo baby]

Mesi was hugely entertaining due to his style.
Never had the skills to go much further but his career was cut short.

Of that era and level I think minto was my favourite, either way we're talking about junior size heavyweights in an era of giants

A mind boggling size comparison can be made by watching the footage of Arreola v minto (brian looks tiny) and then comparing that to Klitschko v Arreola (ditto)

[Ruthless-RKO]