Almost three years removed from his last meaningful victory, Joe Mesi returns as the starring attraction on national television on Thursday.
OK, so the cable network in question is Versus, formerly all but unknown as the Outdoor Life Network. It's not HBO, the sport's premium-cable showcase where he was featured in his last three bouts before brain-bleeding suffered during his win over Vassiliy Jirov. Or even ESPN2, the only national network running a weekly live boxing series.
And the fight is far from Mesi's home base of Western New York, at the Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in Chester, West Va.
But after four comeback fights ranging in scheduled duration from four to six rounds, Mesi's 10-rounder with George Linberger represent a step toward, though not into, the big time.
For even hardcore boxing fans, Mesi's return after a Nevada judge ordered his medical suspension lifted in December 2005 has, to date, been the stuff of very brief fight reports and a sloppy appearance against a last-minute replacement on the undercard of an ESPN2 show.
For most more mainstream sports fans in Western New York, the ones who packed HSBC Arena in Buffalo, the University at Buffalo's Alumni Arena and the former Niagara Falls Convention and Civic Center in the two years before Mesi's fistic exile, his attempt to regain his lofty spot in the heavyweight rankings has been little more than a rumor.
Appearing on a national telecast -- even if the network's name almost invariably leads to the question, "Who? Versus who?" -- should help to nudge him back into the general consciousness.
That's especially true locally, since Versus' coverage of the National Hockey League during the two seasons since the lockout makes it a more familiar outlet here than in much of the country.
Whether that renewed awareness is a good or bad thing, though, will depend on Mesi's performance.
He probably wishes his second fight since the layoff, a six-rounder against last-minute replacement Stephane Tessier, hadn't been unexpectedly pushed onto the ESPN2 "Friday Night Fights" telecast last June.
The 5-foot-10, 232-pound Tessier -- who looked more like a bouncer recruited from a local bar than a professional boxer -- presented an awkward target, moving forward with his arms held high to protect his head. The fight looked like a sparring session, with Mesi moving to the side to launch singular body shots, with an occasional shot to the face on the rare occasions when Tessier dropped or split his guard.
Two judges awarded Mesi every round, with the third favoring him in all but one, but he absorbed a few stray punches from Tessier, who has since dropped four more four-round decisions to lower his career record to 3-12, while never dropping or seriously hurting his opponent.
Mesi subsequently stopped the completely overmatched Dennis Matthews in two rounds last August and scored a shutout decision over Jason Weiss in a four-rounder a month later, but neither win was seen on television locally, leaving intact the image of a fighter displaying none of the power and fire that convinced HBO to sign him to a multi-fight deal four years ago.
Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, though, Joe Mesi is only a few clicks away. At youtube.com, typing "Mesi" into the wildly popular video archive's search engine yields links to the Tonawanda native's two best performances to date, first-round demolitions of Robert Davis and DaVarryl Williamson at HSBC Arena in the summer and fall of 2003.
The clip of the June 24, 2003, bout against Davis for the North American Boxing Federation heavyweight belt is notable both for Mesi's bold choice of baby-blue trunks and for how devastatingly he dispatched Davis.
Less than a minute into the fight, ESPN2 analyst Scott LeDoux said, "I think he has to win and he has to be spectacular doing it."
Thirteen seconds later, Mesi landed a right to the side of the head that buckled Davis' knees, then another right and a left hook that sent the journeyman crashing to the canvas.
Davis got up as the count reached eight, but Mesi wasted no time, finishing his clearly hurt opponent with a left and another hard right, ending the bout after just 80 seconds.
The Williamson fight -- Mesi's first on HBO and the headliner of a card featuring a half-dozen rising heavyweight prospects and contenders -- would last longer. But only just.
The commentary and graphics on this clip are great, particularly if you speak or read Korean.
At 6-foot-4 but only 205 pounds, Williamson looks alternately startled and tired in the moments before the opening bell, quite possibly intimidated by the deafening noise from the sell-out crowd at HSBC Arena, a din rarely equaled during the facility's 10-year history.
Having entered the ring wearing a Sabres jersey with the since-banished Buffalo-head logo, so as to reinforce the "Buffalo's third franchise" premise advanced by his management team at the time, Mesi landed left jabs and hooks during the opening minute.
That Mesi was able to so freely lead with left hooks offers further evidence that Williamson came in cold. To his credit, Mesi took full advantage, shaking Williamson with a counter right, further wobbling his taller foe with a series of left hooks and then finishing him with a 12-punch series capped by another left.
Williamson, flat on his back, was hurt so badly that referee Wayne Kelly waved the fight off after counting to eight in order to get the medical crew into the ring.
Watching those fights again on the very small screen, it's hard to believe they took place almost four years ago. At the same time, given everything that has transpired in Mesi's career and life since -- the knockdown he suffered during his win against Monte Barrett in December 2003, the horrifying beating he survived in the final four minutes against Jirov before escaping with a decision win, the ensuing suspension and legal battle to lift it -- it seems like a lot longer.
Thursday's bout with Linberger returns Mesi to the present, one way or another. Not that Linberger, who is 29-8-1 with 25 knockouts, presents a horribly daunting challenge. The Akron, Ohio, native hasn't fought since October 2005, when he won a four-round decision against mega-heavyweight freak show Eric Esch, known to tough-man contest aficionados as Butterbean.
That narrow split-decision victory avenged one of the several low points of Linberger's career, a March 2000 loss to Esch that lasted all of 19 seconds. Since another first-round knockout loss, against future titlist Nikolay Valuev in 2001, Linberger has won 11 of 12 fights, with one no-contest, against D-grade opposition at small venues in Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia.
The odds of Thursday's fight going the 10-round distance are probably even longer on those of Linberger scoring an upset. While he has taken part in 10- and even 12-round bouts, only three have lasted as long as six. His longest was a seventh-round stoppage of Jeff Yeoman in March 2005.
The competitiveness of the fight, though, is largely beside the point. The first loss of Mesi's professional career -- particularly against the likes of Linberger -- could, and probably should, end it.
A 34th straight victory is, or at least should be, a foregone conclusion. But to use LeDoux's words, to give Mesi's quest the spark missing through his first four post-suspension appearances, he has to be spectacular doing it.
Or at least markedly better than he has been recently.
Packages including a bus trip to West Virginia from Western New York, reserved seats for the fight and a night's stay at The Grande Hotel at Mountaineer are available for $159 per person by calling Judy's Pair-A-Dice Tours at (716) 568-2222.
The price also includes food and casino vouchers worth $40, with the bus leaving Wal-Mart on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Amherst at 10 a.m., and the Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga half an hour later, on Thursday, Feb. 22, and returning to the area at about 7 p.m. Friday.
Tickets for the fight are also available online at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling (716) 852-5000.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | February 20 2007 |