When Joe Mesi enters the ring at HSBC Arena on Sept. 27, he'll have a rabid crowd of nearly 20,000 people screaming support.
But his opponent, DaVarryl Williamson, thinks that hometown advantage will work against his former Olympic teammate when they meet in the main event of HBO's Night of the Young Heavyweights promotion.
"There's a tremendous amount of pressure on him," Williamson said Saturday during a telephone interview from his home in Aurora, Colo. "He has to produce. His fans have been going to the box office and spending their money. They demand to see him execute. There's no pressure on me."
The stakes are the highest of either fighter's career -- validation as a contender and a nearly certain spot in the Top 10 of boxing's myriad sanctioning organizations, as well as Mesi's North American Boxing Federation title belt.
While Williamson (18-1, 16 KOs) has fought seven fewer times as a professional, he said experience netted from bouts against the likes of 313-pound Corey Sanders, former prospect Kevin McBride and durable Dale Crowe gives him an edge.
"I beat a guy 102 pounds bigger than me," he said, referring to the massive Sanders. "I beat a guy (McBride) who was 25-3 with 20 knockouts. I knocked out a guy (Crowe) who had never been knocked out. I've had that experience and he's going to come in with an enormous amount of pressure, and we don't know how he's going to respond to it."
Williamson, whose right-handed knockout power spawned the nickname "Touch of Sleep," overcame severe fistic adversity in his last bout, against Robert Wiggins in January. Fighting at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Wiggins' home state of Connecticut, Williamson parlayed a third-round knockdown into an early lead on the judges' cards. In the fifth round, though, Wiggins landed a devastating uppercut that broke Williamson's jaw.
"I thought he had knocked my tooth loose," Williamson said. "When I went into the corner and saw how much blood I spit into the bucket, I knew something was wrong. I didn't share it with my trainer, I just masked it and continued to fight. I knew he loved me dearly, so I was afraid he'd say, 'Let's fight another day, and end this here.' I'm glad I went on, because it got me this fight."
Despite the broken jaw, Williamson scored another knockdown in the eighth and earned a unanimous decision.
The win not only helped land Williamson a spot on the HBO card in September, it provided experience in fighting on hostile ground.
"The crowd was pro-Robert Wiggins, but at the end, they embraced me," Williamson said. "You could tell they were saying, 'Hey, this is a talented guy.' I hope to get that same kind of acceptance in Buffalo. Maybe that's the maturity that a 35-year-old brings to the boxing ring. I have an enormous amount of experience fighting guys in their hometown, or even their home country, as an amateur. I've been there, done that and bought the T-shirt."
Lanky for a heavyweight at 6-foot-4 and about 220 pounds, Williamson gained additional seasoning as a sparring partner for former heavyweight titlist Hasim Rahman and International Boxing Federation belt-holder Chris Byrd.
"That has helped me enormously with my career in terms of confidence and technical things," Williamson said. "You'd be surprised at how professional boxers really reach out to help one another. They've had the experience and they're willing to share it with me, and I'm very honored that they have."
While Williamson's relatively advanced age -- he turned 35 on July 25 -- would seem to make his presence on a Night of the Young Heavyweights crowd a touch oxymoronic, he's at roughly the same stage of his pro career as the 29-year-old Mesi (26-0).
He got an even later start in the sport than Mesi, who laced up the gloves at age 21 in an effort to lose weight. Williamson said he needed an outlet for his competitiveness after a career playing quarterback, wide receiver and outside linebacker at Wayne State in Nebraska, where he also played forward on the basketball team.
"I guess I had exhausted my resources with football and basketball and I was looking for something to keep me motivated and keep me going," Williamson said. "Once I started boxing, I discovered I happened to be pretty good. I'd never boxed before, so I hadn't known how much natural ability I had."
Williamson won the Arizona state amateur title in 1993, the first year he took up the sport. In 1996, he earned a spot as an alternate at heavyweight for the U.S. Olympic team, the same year Mesi was the super-heavyweight alternate.
"I know Joe very well," Williamson said. "We have a good history together. He's a first-class guy. I think he's a world-class athlete. We traveled to Sweden to box together for the USA against Sweden. We sparred against one another. I know a lot about him, including his shoe size."
Mesi turned professional in 1997, but Williamson decided to stay in the amateur ranks. A program that encourages Olympic athletes to continue their education while training helped Williamson earn his master's degree in administrative services from Northern Michigan University.
"After the '96 Olympics, when I came up short, I thought, 'Man, I'm going to stay in school,'" Williamson said. "I hit the books hard for the next two years, and was able to graduate in '98. By then, the 2000 Olympics were just around the corner. So I stayed, and I came up short again.
"But all that contributed to my success now, because I had that desire to excel. I don't know where I'd be if I'd made the '96 team or the 2000 team, but I probably wouldn't have finished school, so it was a blessing in disguise."
Williamson's education helped land him a job in sales for Tortillas Mexico, a Denver-based manufacturer of Mexican food. He said the company's owner, Jose Rangel, has supported his boxing career by building a gym in his factory and providing a flexible schedule. Rangel and other local businessmen have also backed Williamson's career, much as the Ringleaders organization helped Mesi through the early stages of his climb up the rankings.
"He's like an angel sent out of the sky that created this opportunity for my family," said Williamson, who has a 6-year-old son, Dantel, and a 4-year-old daughter, Alayana, with wife Shalifa. "This is how important this group is to my success -- if you take them out of my life, there would be no story. We wouldn't be having a conversation right now."
For all his familiarity with Mesi, Williamson said he and trainer George Durbin aren't sure what to expect from the Tonawanda heavyweight when the bell rings on Sept. 27.
"We've prepared for three different Joe Mesis," Williamson said. "We've prepared for a Joe Mesi who is really, really aggressive, a Joe Mesi who is really, really passive, and a Joe Mesi who fights some both ways."
A change in promoters from Cedric Kushner to former HBO Boxing chief Lou DiBella, along with the broken jaw suffered against Wiggins, slowed the busy schedule Williamson maintained after turning pro in 2000. The fight against Mesi will be only his second in 14 months.
"When you suffer a broken jaw, you want to give it time to heal -- you don't want to re-injure it," Williamson said. "I think my coaching staff and managerial staff have done a wonderful job of giving it sufficient time to heal properly. It hasn't had any effect on my sparring or training. I can accept the hook and the uppercut. God knows I don't want to, but that is out of the equation psychologically. I've eaten enough punches while sparring that I know I'll be OK with Joe Mesi."
While they haven't stayed in close contact since their amateur days, Mesi and Williamson have each stayed aware of the other's career progression.
"We've been watching each other and rooting for one another," Williamson said. "We just happen to be on this collision course. It's nothing personal. We want to go out and give everybody a good show, and the best boxer's going to win."
Not that Williamson has any doubt about who that will be.
"You can count on DaVarryl Williamson to be victorious," Williamson said. "At the end of the night, I'll be hoisted up in victory."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | August 26 2003 |