After spending much of the past year on enforced hiatus, the professional boxing scene in Western New York looks poised to return to life in 2006.
On Dec. 19, a Nevada judge ruled that the state athletic commission can't suspend a boxer's license indefinitely, effectively lifting the national ban on unbeaten Tonawanda heavyweight Joe Mesi.
A week earlier, Nick Casal's six-month suspension ended, allowing the Niagara Falls junior welterweight to resume a budding career that started with a dozen wins, though one was ruled a no-contest after Casal tested positive for cocaine in Florida in June.
Casal is scheduled to return to the ring first, most likely in an eight-rounder against an as-yet unnamed opponent at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, Calif., on Jan. 20. Casal fought at the same venue last April, when he stopped Sean Holley in the third round.
Casal's father and trainer, Ray Casal, said his son has been undergoing drug counseling and has stayed in fighting shape.
"He's ready to go," Ray Casal said. "The most important thing is that he's getting his life in order."
While Casal can essentially pick up where he left off before his suspension, the length of Mesi's layoff dictates that he take at least a couple steps back from where he was in the heavyweight division before suffering subdural hematomas during his last fight, a 10-round decision win over Vassiliy Jirov in March 2004.
Judge Douglas Herndon's ruling only lifted Mesi's suspension -- it didn't guarantee him a license in Nevada, which historically hasn't licensed fighters with a history of brain bleeds.
Many states have less stringent commissions, if any at all, and someplace figures to grant Mesi a license. If he's able to fight without further injury at anywhere near his pre-suspension level, his marketability could lower hurdles even in the stricter states.
Though he hasn't indicated where or when he plans on resuming his career, one thing is fairly certain -- you've probably never heard of whomever his first opponent turns out to be.
There's been plenty of turmoil in the heavyweight world since Mesi last fought -- Vitali Klitschko won the World Boxing Council belt, defended it once and retired; James Toney beat John Ruiz for the World Boxing Association's crown, only to see it given back to Ruiz after testing positive for steroids; Ruiz lost the WBA title yet again last week to Nicolay Valuev, a heretofore unknown 7-foot-2, 324-pound Russian curiosity; International Boxing Federation titlist Chris Byrd has defended that belt three times, the last an excruciatingly dull 12-round decision over DaVarryl Williamson, whom Mesi destroyed in 106 seconds at HSBC Arena in September 2003; and Lamon Brewster won the World Boxing Organization's bauble from Wladimir Klitschko, then defended it three times.
Brewster stopped the younger Klitschko in five rounds on April 10, 2004, less than a month after Mesi's last fight. As a measure of just how long that is in fistic terms, Wladimir has revived his career -- twice, the second time after escaping with a technical decision over Williamson after getting knocked down by the much smaller man -- and after unseating unbeaten prospect Samuel Peter is now poised to challenge either Byrd or Brewster in March.
Mesi is probably at least a year away from even thinking about fighting any of the names in the preceding paragraphs. Assuming he gets licensed, his return figures to be a tune-up against a no-hoper.
If that goes well, he could quickly return against someone at the modest level of Keith McKnight, whom he stopped in six rounds at the University at Buffalo's Alumni Arena in 2002.
Mesi said he wants to face Top-10 competition within a year or so, but he'd probably need at least one more fight against the sort of competition he was facing before his last few pre-suspension bouts -- a fading former contender or beltholder. A rematch against Jirov, who got knocked out by ex-beltholder Michael Moorer in his next fight, then stopped a pair of nobodies and got held to a draw by 40-year-old Orlin Norris in July, could fall into that category.
Mesi's father and manager, Jack Mesi, said they'd like at least one of those fights to take place in the Buffalo area, but that will depend on his ability to get a New York license.
A local fighter, be it Mesi or Casal, would be an obvious hook to a promotion sponsored by one of the casinos on either side of the border. Casino Niagara sponsored a card in 2003, the most recent professional boxing in either Niagara Falls. That show was promoted by Allan Tremblay's Orion Sports, which produced two Mesi-headlined bills at the former Niagara Falls Convention and Civic Center in 2001.
Tremblay has talked with casino officials about putting together a boxing series in Ontario, New York, or both. Given the successful relationship between the sport and gambling joints throughout the world, it's a concept that should be inevitable.
Nick Casal's brother, Anthony, won the Niagara District United States Championship Box-Off held in Orchard Park earlier this month.
Anthony Casal won the 141-pound men's title via decision over Darnell Jiles of Rochester in a fight named the tournament's outstanding bout.
Casal advances to the U.S. Championship regionals in Lake Placid from Feb. 24 to Feb. 26. The national finals are scheduled for Colorado Springs, Colo., in March.
Another fighter from Casal's Boxing Club, Joey Trusello, also won a trip to Lake Placid via walkover in the 125-pound men's title. Trusello suffered a back injury last week when his car skidded on ice coming down Indian Hill Road and was struck by another vehicle.
Trusello sustained three small fractures in his lower back, Ray Casal said, but was told by doctors he can resume training in two weeks and should be ready for the regional tournament.
Katie Wakeman, who was uncontested in the 101-pound women's division, advances directly to the national tournament.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Dec. 27 2005 |