Joe Mesi.

He was a solid fighter. He had decent ability for a fighter of his physique and stature, but in all honesty, he was bound to fall short of being a champion, unless someone wants to sit down and find a roundabout way he could have maybe picked up a side trinket in a matchup against a brief weak holder.

He was just about reaching his ceiling as far as being able to handle his opposition, and he still wasnt close to world class opponents....

I dont think hes underrated at all, he just is what he is, an honest, solid heavyweight who would beat many mid level fighters and give a good account for himself and had a solid punch and decent skills, but no seperators in terms of ability or talent that would have elivated him to the level of champion, IMO.

He was competing in a very bleak landscape at the time, and as much as todays heavyweights are put down, he would be out of his depth in it IMO.

Wlad
Vitali
Haye
Valuev
Tua
Arreola
Adamek
Chambers
Povetkin
Peter
Chagaev

all beat him IMO, and most of them do it handily.


and in between his time and this, i still think

White Wolf
Brewster
Byrd
Ruiz

would have also beaten him (i could see Mesi beating ruiz and SL, but id make them the favorite)

He was always a fighter IMO that is good enough to get by his peer fighters on his level, but if he went up to fight champion level fighters he would have been beaten soundly.

IMO

 

- Do i think todays version of adamek is better then the faded, blown up version of jirov that Mesi fought?

Yes i do, and i dont really even think its that close.

I think Jirov was well past it by the time he fought Mesi (and then went and got KO'd against Moorer in the fight after) and i also dont think he carried heavyweight as well as adamek.

 

Ya man, to be honest the Mesi and Moorer fights are kinda sad for me, because i like Jirov and he was a solid, solid fighter and champion, and for him to look so ordinary against them (but still with his out of the ordinary intangibles), and just a shell of himself was just sad. I dont know... maybe im making him sound worse then he was, but for me he was a shell of himself after Toney. After the Mesi fight he fought a fellow past it fighter in Michael Moorer, and was stopped.... was a sad day for me to see that.

Prime for prime, Adamek vs Jirov, honestly man id have to analyse that a bit more for a good answer, i think highly of Adamek and Jirov both, and they would be playing right into eachothers hands with this fight in that they would be facing someone that is there to be hit, wear you down, ect, ect... It would be a brutal fight for sure... brutal, brutal fight.

 

I agree that Jirov was more then in the fight, which is what made the stoppage so much sadder (and also, i havnt rewatched it since the actual fight but i seem to remember thinking Jirov could have continued, idk... maybe my memory is off) but the fact is, he was stopped by a Moorer who was just as past it as he was, and who himself was coming off a loss to a guy whos only claim to fame is being a wlad klit victim. Theres no moral victory to be had for Jirov in this fight, a fighter who should never have even been at heavy and in fact shouldnt have even been fighting at that stage of his career. Just IMO

I wouldnt argue eather way right now in a Jirov - Adamek fight, and def wont say Jirov couldnt beat him, what a scrap it would be, i could see it going eather way and i think both sides would have a case to win

but all that is irrelivent to me on the central issue of i think Mesi couldnt beat Adamek, and i dont rate his jirov win that highly eather. But i do want to state i dont down him as a fighter, he was a solid contender, but thats all i think he would have been, no shame in that.

Just imo