Baby Joe Mesi

[Tony Montana]

Mesi just signed a lucrative, multi-fight deal with HBO. They are clearly in need of a new Heavyweight hero.

Let's not kid ourselves, Mesi got this deal because of his appearance. He's a baby-faced, white, Italian, New Yorker. Ideal to market.

I've never seen him fight so all I know is what I've read. Apparently, he was impressive in his last fight. But he's yet to face a top 10 heavyweight.

Do you guys think he could be the real deal?

[sars]

white guys are crappy boxers. Haven't they realized that yet?

[crucible]

Until the guy faces legitimate competition it won't be known for sure if he's the real deal or not. It seems as though they are trying to market the next Rocky with the description that is given. If he can beat some great top 10 fighters I'm sure I'll consider him into the mix.

What's his record now?

[Serialkilla]

So this is the Cooney of this generation.

[Hibbert]

Baby Joe Mesi is 27-0 with 25 KO's.

[sars]

sounds like a pretty good boxer to me so far.

[sars]

this is Baby joe Mesi:

http://www.thedailysports.com/extras/boxing/boxingextras/images/joe9.jpg

[Tony Montana]

sounds like a pretty good boxer to me so far.

Records in boxing are so inflated. The fact that Mesi is 27-0 with 25 KOs means absolutely nothing. It's all about who he's fought. And to date he's fought no one.

[robbypark]

sounds like a pretty good boxer to me so far.

Records in boxing are so inflated. The fact that Mesi is 27-0 with 25 KOs means absolutely nothing. It's all about who he's fought. And to date he's fought no one.

Agreed. It applies even moreso to MMA fighters.

[creampuff]

yep you'll never see any MMA fighters with records like boxers. There are so many chump nobodies in boxing. The best MMA fighters usually have records like 12-6 or something.

[Lefty]

good point tony, records in boxing are inflated. as for being the next gerry cooney, lets see if he even makes it that far. i've only seen him once, and he looked ok. a one minute fight doesnt tell you much, besides that he's got decent power.does he have a chin? does he have heart? we'll have to wait and see. i think he'll fight a few bums to build up his rep. he has a huge following on the east coast(especially buffalo), so it's a smart move by hbo to sign him. americans need a good heavyweight right now. we dont want an english(lewis) , canadian(johnson), a new zealander(tua)or two russian champs(klistcho's), americans want a good ol boy to carry the gold.

do i think he'll ever be the champ(not just A champ), no.

[sleekdom]

good point tony, records in boxing are inflated. as for being the next gerry cooney, lets see if he even makes it that far. i've only seen him once, and he looked ok. a one minute fight doesnt tell you much, besides that he's got decent power.does he have a chin? does he have heart? we'll have to wait and see. i think he'll fight a few bums to build up his rep. he has a huge following on the east coast(especially buffalo), so it's a smart move by hbo to sign him. americans need a good heavyweight right now. we dont want an english(lewis) , canadian(johnson), a new zealander(tua)or two russian champs(klistcho's), americans want a good ol boy to carry the gold.

do i think he'll ever be the champ(not just A champ), no.

The Klitschko's are Ukranian, not Russian and no they are not the same thing!! I'm ukranian and I hate the fact that many people think I'm Russian, because I'm not!

[shayne]

David Tua is from New Zealand?

[Tony Montana]

americans need a good heavyweight right now. we dont want an english(lewis) , .....

For the record, Lewis was born in, trains in, lives in, and won a gold for Canada. He decided to call himself English for financial reasons when he turned pro. One of the several reasons why I am not his biggest fan.

[Lefty]

shayne: yes tua's from new zealand

sleek: ok, they're urakainian. no insult intended .

tony m: lewis was born in canada,won the gold, but for a majority of his boxing career claimed to be from london. he was annouced by ring annoucers to hail from london, so i wont agrue. when he was once asked, he claimed to be "a citizen of the planet."

[Shamrocked]

good point tony, records in boxing are inflated. as for being the next gerry cooney, lets see if he even makes it that far. i've only seen him once, and he looked ok. a one minute fight doesnt tell you much, besides that he's got decent power.does he have a chin? does he have heart? we'll have to wait and see. i think he'll fight a few bums to build up his rep. he has a huge following on the east coast(especially buffalo), so it's a smart move by hbo to sign him. americans need a good heavyweight right now. we dont want an english(lewis) , canadian(johnson), a new zealander(tua)or two russian champs(klistcho's), americans want a good ol boy to carry the gold.

do i think he'll ever be the champ(not just A champ), no.

The Klitschko's are Ukranian, not Russian and no they are not the same thing!! I'm ukranian and I hate the fact that many people think I'm Russian, because I'm not!Wasn't the Ukraine actually part of the former Soviet Union? Since what's left of the Soviet Union is once again called Russia, it's understandable that people might assume that they are Russian. You're the expert not me.

[sleekdom]

yeah it was but so was Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Belgium, and many other countries but you do not assume that all those people are Russian. I have no offence to Russians but I take offence when people assume I'm from a different country. Think about it this way, don't you think Korean people get angry when other people automatically assume that they're chinese simply because they're Asian?

[Tony Montana]

After watching that garbage fight of Ruiz v Rahman I reconsidered my stance on Joe Mesi not being among the top heavyweights. I'd rank them as such;

1 Vitali Klitschko
2 Wladimir Klitschko
3 Chris Byrd
4 David Tua
5 Fres Oquendo
tie 6 James Toney & Joe Mesi

I'm assuming Lennox is retiring. And since Roy Jones has declared he only wants to fight one more mega pay day vs. Tyson I'm not including him in these rankings either.

Among those 7 names I listed above Vitali is the #1 box office draw. And Mesi would probably be #2. So I'm sure Mesi will get his chance at greatness soon enough. What he does with it remains in question.

[sars]

Why do rank Wladimir as second? The guy lost to a second string boxer in Corrie Sanders and as a result definitely shouldn't be in the #2 ranked spot.

[Tony Montana]

Why do rank Wladimir as second? The guy lost to a second string boxer in Corrie Sanders and as a result definitely shouldn't be in the #2 ranked spot.

You're right, Wladimir did lose to a bum in Corrie Sanders. But look at the rest of the field. Byrd, Tua, Oquendo, Tony, Mesi??? I'd imagine that Wladimir would be the favorite against any of those guys.

[robbypark]

Wladimir just had a bad night. On any given night in a rematch against Sanders he's probably win.

[The Boxer]

americans need a good heavyweight right now. we dont want an english(lewis) , .....

For the record, Lewis was born in, trains in, lives in, and won a gold for Canada. He decided to call himself English for financial reasons when he turned pro. One of the several reasons why I am not his biggest fan.

Just clearing up this little piece of info. Lewis was born in Great Britain and didn't move to Canada until he was about 8 years old. He won the Olympic gold for Canada in '88 and then moved back to Great Britain for the more lucrative opportunities to turn pro. That's the dilemma facing Canadian boxers nowadays. They have to make their money elsewhere. I've been in amateur boxer for about 5 years now and I hope to turn it into a pro career in the next couple of years. I'll end up having to do the same thing, eventually.

[The Boxer]

I'm just adding a footnote to my above message. Lewis was born in West Ham, England to be precise.