Not much went Jesse Hart’s way last week.
The veteran Philadelphian lost a debatable majority decision to Khalil Coe in Las Vegas even after Coe had missed weight by almost eight pounds ahead of their bout.
“None of it,” Hart told BoxingScene on Monday, when asked what went well in Sin City. “The weight, I had the flu, he came in eight pounds [over], I didn’t get the money I was supposed to get for him coming in eight pounds over, all of that. It just went horribly wrong. But it went horribly right at the same time, if that makes sense.”
In the court of public opinion, Hart was a moral victor, and his social media timelines have been filled by fans from all corners of the world, reaching out to sympathize with him and praise him.
“I inspired them, at 36 years of age, to never give up. If it’s something they want to do, they’re going to do it,” he said.
“But I want the spirit of all the people all over the world, man, that’s priceless. I inspire people. Just because you’re 36, or they say you’re old, or they say you’re too late, it’s never too late. If you feel in your heart, you can do something. That’s priceless to me.”
Hart has been buoyed by the positive messages and said he was never close to pulling out of the fight even after Coe missed weight so spectacularly.
Instead, Hart doubled down and wanted to box his rival after Coe pushed him at the weigh-in.
That move had maddened Hart’s daughter, so he sought to teach Coe a lesson.
“She got scared, I was alarmed. So it was like, ‘Yo, I want to fight him,’” Hart explained. “I really wanted to fight because of my daughter. When he pushed me onstage, she was mad. Let’s fight. He’s trying to get out of this. He didn’t want to fight. He didn’t want to rumble. He didn’t want to fight. He didn’t want to engage.”
Hart has watched the bout back three times and scored it six rounds to four in his favor each time, with him winning the first four rounds and the last two.
“He did have some success in the middle rounds; that’s because of the weight,” Hart added. “He was so heavy. And not to make no excuse, I had the flu two weeks, a week ago. I had the actual flu, like severely. I came in and I still fought. My whole thing was to, again, show the world that I’m me and I’m a fighter and to inspire. And that’s what I did.
“But in the actual fight, the punches that I hit him with would knock down buildings, brother. The right hands that I landed will level buildings. But because of the weight that he had on him, he stayed up. If you come in 182, you rehydrate up to 15 or 20 pounds. You’re 200 pounds. I only rehydrated up to 184 pounds.”
Hart said he is comfortable for money and that he doesn’t have to fight again. More pertinently, at 36, some family members want him to call it a career now.
“I don't want to walk away, but again, I’ve got to see,” he said. “At this age, I got to see. I got to go home and talk to my doctor. I got to go home and talk to my daughter. I got to go home and talk to my family about what’s next. You hear me? What's next? What do I want to do next? I don’t know if I want to box again. I’m not sure. I can walk away knowing I gave it all I got. The legend of Jesse Hart is massive. He went in there and he fought a guy eight pounds heavier than him. He went in there, made no excuses, at 36 years of age.”
Hart, to that end, feels satisfied that the world has seen his fighting heart. That has always been one of his goals, to evoke the memory of the great Philly fighters from the past, like Joe Frazier and his father, Eugene “Cyclone” Hart.
That, however, does not solve what he views as the injustices of last week.
“Definitely. I was robbed,” he added. “I was robbed of a win. After all that, though, man, I thought I won. The world can’t be wrong.”
There was a further positive, though, and that was that the bad blood between the fighters had dissipated after 10 rounds of fighting, although Hart – now 31-4 (25 KOs) – is open to a rematch.
“Brother, when he said afterwards in the ring that, you know, ‘Thank you for not taking all of the money that you were supposed to take out my purse, I still got to feed my family,’ that was it right there. When he said that, I said, ‘Brother, I hope you and your son is healthy and I'm glad you make it home to your family, brother.’ You know, he has a son and again, I respect him. When I sparred him down at the gym, he came down to the gym with his father and his son. And that’s one thing that a young guy his age is not, they don’t be family-oriented now, but Khalil Coe was definitely family-oriented. And I respected that about him.
“You know, he had his son and his father with him. I was happy to see that because again, it’s very rare that these young men is taking care of their kids and being family-oriented with their father. So I, I definitely respected that about him. I’m never mad. The world knows I won. I knew I won in my heart and I prayed to God. I’m not mad. I made it out safe, man. I’m going back to my family. This boxing is something I want to do. My family, my daughter, they don’t want me to do this. My kids don’t want me to, they don’t like me getting hit. They don’t want to see me get hit. I’m still living my life, though. I’m not putting a limitation on myself. It feeds my itch. I’m a fighter. This is what I was bred to do. I wasn’t bred to do anything else but boxing.”
