I think if both are in shape and ready to rumble, this would be a fun matchup. Both in their primes, who takes it?
Good competitive matchup. Not sure. Kirk will win some rounds with that movement and jab of his. And Mesi will win rounds with his combos and accuracy & better conditioning. Would go w/ Mesi close disputed decision during that timeframe HBO was pushing him. You know---follow the money type decision. Bout might have taken place in Buffalo as well since that is where the ticket sales for his matchup would be best.
Saw Kirk Johnson v Vitali at the Garden and I’ll never forgive that guy for putting on one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen. Didn’t even try. Spent a lot of hard earned money on that fight and took me years to have the courage to dish out for another big fight. I think Kirk at his best wins but I’ll never pick him against anyone after that performance
I go with Kirk. Apart from the Vitali fight, he always impressed me, I was surprised he didn't achieve more, I think he wasn't mentally tough enough. I liked Mesi, but Monte Barrett gave him hell and Jirov a blown-up Cruiserweight hurt him bad enough to end his career
I'd argue Mesi had better conditioning. Mesi's last 2 world level fights (basically his last 2 real fights), his conditioning fell apart both times. It can be assumed that this would have continued had his career continued. Neither of those men were even top 10 at the time he fought them. The only time Kirk came in sloppy was against Vitali, he never really showed conditioning issues before or after that. I could see a scenario where if he survived he won on the scorecards though, they pushed the hell outta him. Original question: I'd pick Kirk to stop Mesi round 7-10. Kirk had faster hands, a better jab, was more durable, had a far better chin and far better feet. Mesi barely survived Monte Barrett who did nothing as well as Kirk. Kirk was really unlucky to get Dq'd against Ruiz and was just a goofball coming in against Vitali at damn near 270. He was his own worst enemy.
If I recall correctly, his wife suffered a miscarriage during his training camp for Vitali. I understand he should have postponed the fight for a later time when he could fully focus on his training but I try to cut him a bit of slack because of his tragedy.
I'm going to go with Johnson because too me he was far more talented and he has some pretty good wins despite looking like **** against Vitali. Joe Mesi was decent but a little undersized.
Hahaha, no worries mate. I don’t think it was talked about at the time. I recall an interview with Kirk from years after the fight where he talks about it.
