Anyone remember "Baby" Joe Mesi???

Just rewatched the jirov fight and it was a damn good fight!

I still don't recall him ever being considered a potential star. he was a good lookin white kid so that probably helped him with getting exposure but he also had a lot of detractors. I wouldn't call him getting exposed as barret was fairly well respected and ranked at the time and mesi wasn't a big clear favorite to win either fights Mesi was on HBO, he was being groomed to be a cash cow,, they were gonna match him soft, maybe target a tyson fight... Barrett was a journeymen who made a career out of exposing wanna-be contenders like mesi and owen beck

He was hype,,,, was supposed to be showcased vs a cruiser (jirov) and a journeymen (barret) and got exposed badly.. Mesi was a 4 round fighter... Exciting, crowd pleaser, but nowhere near worthy of HBO grooming him to be a star I still don't recall him ever being considered a potential star. he was a good lookin white kid so that probably helped him with getting exposure but he also had a lot of detractors. I wouldn't call him getting exposed as barret was fairly well respected and ranked at the time and mesi wasn't a big clear favorite to win either fights

wouldn't say he was a hype job as most didn't consider him a future champion from what I recall. he was a descent offensive fighter with good combinations and descent pop but his chin and stamina were suspect. I agree that hed get knocked out badly by any puncher such as the ones you mentioned He was hype,,,, was supposed to be showcased vs a cruiser (jirov) and a journeymen (barret) and got exposed badly.. Mesi was a 4 round fighter... Exciting, crowd pleaser, but nowhere near worthy of HBO grooming him to be a star

He was a hype job... would have been a heavyweight version of jeff lacy.. Jirov and Barrett both should have beaten him... Mesi would have been beheaded by klits, brewster, rahman.. Though i would have loved to seen in 04-05 mesi vs tyson and toney wouldn't say he was a hype job as most didn't consider him a future champion from what I recall. he was a descent offensive fighter with good combinations and descent pop but his chin and stamina were suspect. I agree that hed get knocked out badly by any puncher such as the ones you mentioned

He was a hype job... would have been a heavyweight version of jeff lacy.. Jirov and Barrett both should have beaten him... Mesi would have been beheaded by klits, brewster, rahman.. Though i would have loved to seen in 04-05 mesi vs tyson and toney

Baby Joe was a spectacular offensive fighter. He had 18 straight stoppages including the destruction of davarryl Williamson in my sig. He fought a very good Jirov, who's only career loss was to james toney at that point, and dominated him in the early rounds. The brain bleed came from a punch to the back of Mesi's head when he was on a knee. He still won that fight. Jirov got a shot at Michael Moorer in his next fight. Mesi also beat Monte Barrett who had 6 straight wins and a loss to klitschko on his resume. Barrett also later got a shot at rahman and valuev. Williamson fought Wlad Klitschko and chris byrd in his next 5 fights after the ko loss to mesi. Williamson also beat oliver McCall during that 5 fight stretch.....Baby Joe was screwed by a blatant cheap shot. Hard working Blue collar kid from a blue collar town was much better than so many of the so called "great white hype" type's we tend to see in boxing. 1st alternate for the Olympics and ever pro he ever fought was knocked down and or hurt bad by baby joe. Had the punch to the back of the head never been delivered, Mesi would have gotten his title shot before all 3 of the men he beat and would without question have stopped Michael Moorer, Rahman and Valuev. He would have struggled with Byrd due to his one shortcoming. Joe always faded in the later rounds and byrd would have took it there. Older klitschko would have easily handled Joe but at that time younger klitschko could have been in trouble. That was before he fixed his own stamina issues. Baby Joe could have and would have been a top 5 heavyweight who picked up a minor belt or 2. Shame his career was cut short Good post! I can tell you were a big fan of joe!

I remember Mesi. He was very average. At that time the heavyweight division was in flux. Lennox was retiring, the Brothers were relatively new on the US scene and you had guys like Corrie Sanders, Jameel Mcline, Lamon Brewster winning big fights. Rahman and Ruiz were still around. Holyfield was somehow still around. It was just a horrible division. Seriously, Roy Jones Jr was a heavyweight champion. What I recall was that his level of opposition was HORRIBLE. When he stepped up with a live world class fighter, who was actually a cruiser, Jirov, he barely made it out of that fight. Skillwise, nothing special. What he did have was heart and toughness and that made him exciting to watch. I never saw him going very far though. But he was the type of guy that an Al Haymon could have maneuvered properly and made a lot of money off of.

I remember him well,good B-level fighter....nothing more,nothing less.

Natural talent, average skills, average physique -- would have probably made it to 3-4 big paydays and lost half of them then retired. Not a match for Klitschko, Povetkin, blah blah.

I remember thinking that I would forget who this guy was within 5 years when watching him fight, and I pretty much had but I do kind of vaguely remember his face and that he was from Buffalo.

Joe Mesi was a fun exciting fighter to watch. He wasn't an elite hw but any stretch but he was capable of beating some top guys and making some entertaining fights. For years, Mesi was lobbying to get his boxing license back in NY, NV, NJ but finally gave up his fight and called it quits. I wish he had still tried to pursue it, he had a lot of years left in his career.

Baby Joe was a spectacular offensive fighter. He had 18 straight stoppages including the destruction of davarryl Williamson in my sig. He fought a very good Jirov, who's only career loss was to james toney at that point, and dominated him in the early rounds. The brain bleed came from a punch to the back of Mesi's head when he was on a knee. He still won that fight. Jirov got a shot at Michael Moorer in his next fight. Mesi also beat Monte Barrett who had 6 straight wins and a loss to klitschko on his resume. Barrett also later got a shot at rahman and valuev. Williamson fought Wlad Klitschko and chris byrd in his next 5 fights after the ko loss to mesi. Williamson also beat oliver McCall during that 5 fight stretch.....Baby Joe was screwed by a blatant cheap shot. Hard working Blue collar kid from a blue collar town was much better than so many of the so called "great white hype" type's we tend to see in boxing. 1st alternate for the Olympics and ever pro he ever fought was knocked down and or hurt bad by baby joe. Had the punch to the back of the head never been delivered, Mesi would have gotten his title shot before all 3 of the men he beat and would without question have stopped Michael Moorer, Rahman and Valuev. He would have struggled with Byrd due to his one shortcoming. Joe always faded in the later rounds and byrd would have took it there. Older klitschko would have easily handled Joe but at that time younger klitschko could have been in trouble. That was before he fixed his own stamina issues. Baby Joe could have and would have been a top 5 heavyweight who picked up a minor belt or 2. Shame his career was cut short This........ So disgusted by what could have been I aint even post here; Joe was a exciting talented fighter that brought a crowd and left fans clamoring for more every fight, one of the sports throwbacks was taken from us, and we left with thse happy to receive a paycheck HW's

Baby Joe was a spectacular offensive fighter. He had 18 straight stoppages including the destruction of davarryl Williamson in my sig. He fought a very good Jirov, who's only career loss was to james toney at that point, and dominated him in the early rounds. The brain bleed came from a punch to the back of Mesi's head when he was on a knee. He still won that fight. Jirov got a shot at Michael Moorer in his next fight. Mesi also beat Monte Barrett who had 6 straight wins and a loss to klitschko on his resume. Barrett also later got a shot at rahman and valuev. Williamson fought Wlad Klitschko and chris byrd in his next 5 fights after the ko loss to mesi. Williamson also beat oliver McCall during that 5 fight stretch.....Baby Joe was screwed by a blatant cheap shot. Hard working Blue collar kid from a blue collar town was much better than so many of the so called "great white hype" type's we tend to see in boxing. 1st alternate for the Olympics and ever pro he ever fought was knocked down and or hurt bad by baby joe. Had the punch to the back of the head never been delivered, Mesi would have gotten his title shot before all 3 of the men he beat and would without question have stopped Michael Moorer, Rahman and Valuev. He would have struggled with Byrd due to his one shortcoming. Joe always faded in the later rounds and byrd would have took it there. Older klitschko would have easily handled Joe but at that time younger klitschko could have been in trouble. That was before he fixed his own stamina issues. Baby Joe could have and would have been a top 5 heavyweight who picked up a minor belt or 2. Shame his career was cut short

top 15 ATG heavyweight.

yeah great fight with jirov.....

i think byrd would of been beatable...do you think byrd would of outboxed him??? how about ruiz? I think byrd would have been too slick and quick for mesi but it would be competitive. I think hed have had a good chance with ruiz. hed have always struggled with the better punchers tho as his defensive skills and chin seemed suspect. I always liked mesi tho,,,he was fun to watch. damn shame his career was cut so short. hed have at least made some money

He did a lot with what he had; he didn't start boxing until he we twenty years old, which is why he lost to some pretty mediocre guys in his amateur career. He wouldn't have gotten any better or won a title, but he was in some good scraps. i think byrd would of been beatable...do you think byrd would of outboxed him??? how about ruiz?

He did a lot with what he had; he didn't start boxing until he we twenty years old, which is why he lost to some pretty mediocre guys in his amateur career. He wouldn't have gotten any better or won a title, but he was in some good scraps.

Isn't he a politician now? i think so, for his home state of buffalo i believe.