never heard of him before but just see him on someones avatar. i see he was undefeated but was he anygood? was he a bum? would he rule a klit?
He was neither a bum nor would he defeat a Klit. If his career had continued without medical problems I think he'd now be on the level Monte Barrett is now; gatekeeper to fringe contender status.
Hell no, he was just a fringe contender who beat a bunch of bums and got brain-injured by the cruiserweight Jirov before he could hit the bigtime. He was an ok heavyweight, he had some skills and he could hit a bit, but he would have struggled to crack the top 5, the Klits would have beaten him easy yes
He was a fair fighter, who seemed to have limitations, but always found a way to get the job done. If not for his injuries, he should of rightly had his crack that Vitali or Vlad, though I doubt he would of been very competitive. He was no fringe contender, but a lively top 10 fighter, who would have been in with a chance against anyone but a Klitschko, in 2004.
He wasn't good. Probably worse than the whole top ten right now. He had a subdural hematoma after Jirov. It healed so he's fully functioning now. No brain damage as far as I know.
I always thought that he was a bit better than most people seemed to give him credit for. The reality is that we dont really know how good he was, because he never reached the very top and fought the best fighters. The reality is noone will ever know how good he could be. He did have some good wins amongst his victories, Da Varryl Williamson from memory stands out as an excellent win. And the Jirov win was still a win, despite his problems he experienced. I tend to think he could have had a good chance against guys like Haye, Ruiz, Arreola etc. But he would still need to show more to start favourite against these guys. As for the Klits, he has as good a chance as any young unproven fighter has had, but at this stage, that seems to be a very limited chance. To put things into perspective, when Mesi was injured, the other hotshot young chance (who many on here seemed to rate higher) was Dominic Guinn. Dominic Guinn's career didnt really kick on.
I've seen lesser men get an abc title. But as Boilermaker said, he was untested by top heavies. Then again, Jirov was a very solid CW champ and a good fighter. They had a real scrap. He won. I don't know as I hold that against him-the struggling. Jirov was a tough bugger and when you're used to a lot of soft touches, perhaps you don't perform up to your potential and we just don't see what you're capable of. Mesi could hit, I think he had a decent chin. Smaller HW though. At a big disadvantage against most of our top notchers now. I wonder if he could have actually been a Cruiserweight.
I like how Mesi is getting a fair of credit here, the level that he deserves as opposed to a thrashing because he wasn't the number one heavyweight in the world or some **** His power is underrated a bit. Almost killed Williamson, blew him out in one, something no one else ever came close to doing. Williamson was a fair fighter in his own right. Absolutely hammered the **** out out of Jorge Luis Gonzalez which I personally enjoyed, despite being outweighed by 30 pounds.
Mesi was a kid with a short amatuer career that almost went to the olympics with wins over Rahman and Clay-Bey. He stunned me with the 1 rd blow-out over Darvell Williamson and Robert Davis aKo over Gonzales and he looked great with Monte Barrett barring the last 2 rds. The Jirov fight he dominated Jirov but some hard illegal rabbitt punches almost did him in and seemed to cause him damage. I think he could have held his own with any of the heavys of his day except the Klitschko's
Joe Mesi was a fringe Contender maybe bottom 10 at best. I thought he had decent skills and could pop a little bit. Put it this way him an Arreola would be a competetive matchup but Arreola would beat him,Mesi would be a solid gatekeeper.
the third sports franchise in buffalo could pack a venue up there. i agree w/ anarci. mesi would have been a solid gatekeeper had he finally started taking on some stiffer competition. however, i do feel that, despite his limited ability, he doesnt get enough credit on here. he could box a little. he looked great against jirov before the blow to the head. he also showed great heart in that fight. he said in later interviews that the docs told him the shot that did it was in the 11th i think?? he doesnt even remember the final round. solid but unspectacular with a rabid regional fanbase.
He did ok against low level fighters.He is i think italian american so he was built up as a kind of Rocky fighter.I dont think it would have come to much but the brain scan problem stopped him anyway which is sad.
he actually was licensed in a few places after all that (in addition to his failed plunge into politics) and did have a few fights. he looked alright against low level comp. here's one of his fights after the jirov/lay off situation... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Puk8AgKg6A&feature=PlayList&p=C706ABFFA56FC65D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2[/ame]