Snipes was nothing if not pretty durable, good chin, a little power. Could go the distance and close out. Joe Mesi ultimately showed that anyone who was durable enough to take his power could potentially have him in hell. Mesi had limited durability and limited recovery skills. Both fights against the two best guys he fought he ended the fight much weaker than the opponent. On top of that, Mesi I'm pretty sure never stopped anyone that hadn't been previously stopped so he may have had some power, but not enough to stop Snipes who I'm pretty sure only got stopped by Holmes. Snipes by tko late.
Renaldo swam in deeper waters and held his own with some bigger fishes than Baby Joe. He went 2-3 vs. 1980s heavyweight titleholders (beat Coetzee and Berbick, lost to Holmes, Witherspoon by majority decision and Page). He also beat Johnny DuPlooy and lost narrowly to Orlin Norris. Yeah, the Coetzee fight should have been an L (but could be justified under the round system used for scoring) but he also hung 10 rounds with Coetzee’s bionic right and showed resilience by getting up from a couple knockdown and remaining competitive. You get the feeling that most of Mesi’s scalps were carefully selected and even his better wins probably came from catching guys at the right time through good scouting … wins that looked better than they probably were. I think Renaldo comes on late to win a UD or maybe stoppage after Mesi builds an early lead but begins to slow down. I like the matchup though.
Snipes, likely by late round KO. More of a proven commodity, battle tested. Snipes was awkward and had a weird rhythm, herky, jerky. Reasonable hand speed, good chin and tough guy. I just don't think Mesi was that tough or durable. He could punch pretty good. What sticks in my mind about Mesi had badly he was KO'ed by Lawrence Clay-Bey in the amateurs.
Haven’t seen enough of Joe Mesi. Never lost though and had a few semi-decent wins. Might be a good fight
Renaldo was resilient and not easily dissuaded. Whatever Baby Joe would be able to put on him early would not make him go into a shell or switch to survival mode. I don’t think Mesi would have been ready for that.
Mesi. Decision. Bout will take place in his backyard like all his other bouts. We will see hometown scoring and judging and just do not see Snipes getting his hand raised at the end. More like a screw job.
