How would Joe Mesi do today?

Goes without saying. How about the likes of Wilder, Hunter, Jennings, Martin or Kownacki though? I'd say he'd take at least 3/5 here

 

They were marketed as saviours, but got destroyed by almost everyone they fought


https://gmsrp.cachefly.net/images/20/01/03/71c5f22b3ab51c5d0d52f90e540ffa45/690.jpg

 

Mesi would have gotten smashed by random competition like a fat Whyte, an aging Povetkin or even an ancient Ortiz.

 

Jennings, Martin, Kownacki he pieces the **** up. Hunter wipes him down though. Unfortunately as somewhat of a Wilder fan, I cant confidently pick Wilder in this and feel good about it

 

HAHAHA That's an epic cover! Completely jinxed those fighters.

 

Agreed 100%

 

Yeah classic cover.

Have to give them a BIT of slack though. Harrison was a legitimate Olympic gold medalist, Guinn was American and also had an impressive amateur background, Mesi filled that Marciano niche/mold so was easy to market especially in the East coast.

Harrison turned out to be a glass jawed quitter and probably the worst HW Olympic gold medalist to turn pro in recent memory. Think about practically every other winner that went pro(HW) in the last 30-40 years I don't think anyone could have predicted the kind of train wreck it would be early on.

Guinn tbf did show some promise early on but he got discouraged after a few losses and appeared to develop a bit of a sparring mentality. He definitely stands out as one of the more durable and savey journeyman of the last 20 years though. Never stopped, down only once and that was about 2 decades into his career and he arguably upset Fa last year. Early hype and and expectations aside hardcore fans of the sport will remember him as a very good journeyman so there's that at least.

We all know Mesi's story. Of those 3 he showed the most promise and it's not unthinkable that he could have grabbed a belt before the Klitschkos achieved total dominance of th division. We'll never know how good he was for sure but definitely a decent contender with real ambition unlike the other two mentioned here.

 

I liked Mesi at the time but felt the injury vs Jirov saved him from a pounding vs Vitali or Rahman for the WBC where he was highly ranked.

Mesi had his best 3 wins in a row when he got hurt though he barely escaped two of them

Devarryl Williamson KO 1 was very impressive but Williamson I think only scaled around 210 not a huge guy

Monte Barret not a big heavyweight either probably under 220 they traded knockdowns in a close decision. Barret was on a good streak after the Klitschko loss and followed the Mesi loss with wins back to back over 24-0 Owen Beck and 24-0 Domminik Guinn so talk about a real prospect nightmare

Vasily Jirov went down a few times barely escaped in the 10th and suffered an injury. I believe he was hit in the back of the head and that's supposedly what did it.

What I can infer from this is that he beat mostly small heavyweights by today's standards and was a little bit of a front runner piling on big leads vs Jirov and Barret only to fade, visit the canvas and win just barely on the cards. I think he had ability and he had a punch but I feel if a guy can handle what he brings he struggles with the return fire

In boxrec's top 25



1 ➡ Anthony Joshua* Joshua KO
2 ➡ Tyson Fury Fury
3 ➡ Oleksandr Usyk* Usyk decision
4 ➡ Andy Ruiz Jr Ruiz KO
5 ➡ Deontay Wilder Wilder KO
6 ➡ Dillian Whyte* Whyte KO
7 ➡ Alexander Povetkin* Povetkin KO
8 ➡ Kubrat Pulev* Pulev may go distance
9 ➡ Luis Ortiz Ortiz KO
10 ➡ Dereck Chisora* Chisora KO
11 ➡ Michael Hunter Hunter points
12 ➡ Joseph Parker Parker
13 ➡ Charles Martin Winnable for Mesi though Martin is a southpaw and can punch
14 ➡ Robert Helenius Prime Helenius going into Chisora fight pounds Mesi, Mesi could win this
15 ➡ Filip Hrgovic* Hrgovic
16 ➡ Dominic Breazeale 50/50 though Breazle is bigger than many of Mesi's opponents and can punch
17 ➡ Oscar Rivas Mesi might be able to edge Rivas on points but may hit the deck late and have to survive
18 ➡ Christian Hammer 144.8 Not formed enough of an opinion on Hammer
19 ➡ Adam Kownacki 140.8 Figuring Kownacki by stoppage late or Mesi on points
20 ➡ Joe Joyce* 125.0 Joyce
21 ➡ Evgeny Romanov 122.1 Not enough experience with Romanov to form an opinion
22 ➡ Hughie Fury 117.0 Winnable on points for Mesi but Fury again would be much larger than Mesi's opposition
23 ➡ Efe Ajagba 92.76 Mesi could connect on the stiff Ajaba who is still learning but he is very vulnerable himself
24 ➡ David Price 90.22 Short fight either way
25 ➡ Daniel Dubois* Dubois could still get Seth Mitchelled but I dont think Mesi has the stuff

I rattled off the top 25 and don't have a single name that I without a doubt picked Mesi over. I just have real serious doubts on his full fight conditioning and his ability fight off adversity. Sure he got up vs Barret and Jirov and made it to the end but when the road got rough he never righted the ship and re took control. Some fighters like say Fury vs Wilder 1, Klitschko vs Peter, and Holmes vs Shavers had interruptions in the fight where they got hurt or went down and had to take back control of the fight and they did. Mesi never really showed he could do that and would be facing bigger fighters than he faced in those fights. Barret was a pretty good puncher not a KO machine but he could hit but not any harder than a lot of the above names. Even a guy like Price where it is hilarious to watch him get knocked out is bigger than Mesi and hard puncher himself who can lay guys out just as easily as he can be put away