Joe Mesi licensed to fight in Arkansas on 8/12

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

About the only things Baby Joe Mesi has in common with his next opponent is the powerful blows of Vassiliy Jirov.

Mesi, 31-0 with 25 knockouts, will take on Dennis “Mad Dog” Matthews of Houston, 9-27 with six KOs, Saturday night at the Pope County Fairgrounds in Little Rock, Ark. [details]

[1bad65]

He looked BAD in his last fight. How him and Holyfield get licsensed is beyond me. I lost alot of respect for Texas' commision when they licsensed Holyfield. And I live there!

[marvdave]

9-27 w/ 6 ko's?

oh brother, way to step it up Joe

[Derranged_]

I think that everyone on nsb forum has written off Joe Mesi. For me, I'm cautiously optimistic but think that Joe can make another run for a title if he gets back into the condition and mental state where he once was. I don't think that we know enough about brain injuries to determine if his injury will have a lasting effect and make him more vunerable to future injury.

Having said all that, I'm still amazed that chronic underachiever Audley Harrison generates more threads than Joe Mesi and he has never really done anything to get boxing fans excited!

[Mr. Ryan]

The man had this diagnosed and I'm not sure if you can recover from the damage that fast. They need to really tighten up the regulations down in Arkansas and the rest of the boxing commisions before somebody gets hurt.

[TheEvilSaint]

if mesi doesnt knock this guy out, he should hang em up. his power and handspeed got him to the top of the rankings. since both of them have been missing in his "comeback" fights, he should disappear and train until he gets them back, if he can.

if he has neither the power nor the handspeed that made him a success, he has nothing else to trade off of.

[Derranged_]

If Mesi can't look good against a 9-27 fighter then he should consider hanging up the gloves. He looked awful in his last fight against 3-7 fighter Tessier. Anyone know if this fight is being televised?

[vB Martin]

He looked BAD in his last fight. How him and Holyfield get licsensed is beyond me. I lost alot of respect for Texas' commision when they licsensed Holyfield. And I live there!

I'm on the fence as to whether Mesi should be fighting or not. I mean, it's his life, yanno?

I didn't really care much for Mesi prior to his comeback fight and he looked like **** in it, but I had to respect his own critical analysis of his performance, and the fact that he admitted he will be facing a lower level of competition for the next few fights because it's like starting a new career for him and he admits that in the long layoff his skills have deteriorated and he will make his decision as to his career based upon how he does as he's rising up again.