14.03.04 – By Keith Terceira – KeithTerceira@aol.com – While reading all the reports this morning I felt the need to play devils advocate and come to the defense of all the Mesi fans out there. You see, for many out there, it is a safe bet that eventually Mesi will lose. So based on history, the odds, and time the safe way to go is to ride the anti-Mesi wagon. Before every fight we hear that Mesi will get exposed. Exposed as what I ask. A prospect that has a lot to learn in a limited time. Not once have I heard the Mesi camp run around saying that their fighter was the greatest or anything close to it. The hype comes from the powers that be to sell out events and the media who’s job it is to build interest in the sport, pro or negative for all fighters.
A great aspect of boxing is its tendency towards humor. After last evenings HBO show I wandered through the internet, reading the comments and forum postings of a few dozen of boxings best sites.
The before and after coverage by fans and writers is steeped in humor, with intricate weaving of fact and fiction. Whatever the opinion of the Mesi-Jirov bout is you can generally find some missing facts. One such fact if you use the rules of boxing is that Mesi won or at the least drew the ninth round. For several decades now a punch to the BACK of the head is illegal and a knockdown can not be ruled on a rabbit punch. Stuff happens and the ref missed that call, but we fight fans have the luxury of instant replay and video recording devices so there is no excuse on our part to continue crediting Jirov with the knockdown. Had the referee stopped the bout for a five minute recovery period the tenth round knockdowns may never have occurred?
Another hysterical comment that floats around the internet is that if it had been a 12 round fight that Jirov would have won. Quite possibly true. Then again how many other fights in the history of boxing could that comment be referred to? We can go back and say if many of the championship fights of old had been 12 instead of 15 rounds the results would have been different. Needless to say if it had been twelve rounds a title would have been on the line and that would have brought the fight to a whole different level and pay scale’s.
So for the Mesi fans out there here is my take on the night. The rest of you can switch web pages at this point or read on and post your humor in the comment section.
The ‘Leaky’ Mesi defense was not quite as leaky for 9 rounds of the Jirov fight as I had expected it would be. It was obvious that taking the Mesi training camp out of Buffalo paid off in some visible benefits. I noticed a much more polished Mesi and there was lessons well learned in camp. Not enough yet to put Joe in with some of the top five but he is getting there.
Jirov who normally averages 80 plus punches around was baffled and hurt enough by Joe that he only averaged 37 in this fight landing only nine power shots per round to Mesi’s 20. What did disturb me is by focusing more on not overthrowing it took some of his power away. I expect in the next couple of fights we will see more balance in his attack and a better defense. If his defense continue to improve when could see a return to his old power.
Some of the improvements noticed from the Barrett fight were conditioning, which wasn’t a factor until the back of the head blow. Ten pounds less than the Barrett fight may have contributed to the better execution of punches particularly the jab. Mesi still continues to drop that hand to low when pulling it back which will be the death of his career if not corrected.
We saw a lot less punches being overthrown this fight than the Barrett fight. The power shots that Jirov was hit with definitely took the Tiger by surprise and spoiled any game plan that Vassily had in dominating the fight. As many Mesi supporters said earlier in the week this was a lose-lose situation for him and many of the reports support that. But regardless of the reports it was a good display of what is possible in time. To counter the critics if it had been a eight round fight then Mesi would have dazed the media.
Mesi worked off his jab much better than in any fight I have witnessed yet and continues to improve at setting up his power shots. He countered better against Jirov than Barrett but still leaves himself to open in return.
What is good about this sport is hate sells as many tickets as supporting. As long as the haters keep paying to see Mesi “Exposed” then Joe will be a very rich man soon and we all know that is the only real reason sane people get in the ring to be beaten on a regular basis. We know Rahman exposed Lewis; Douglas exposed Tyson, etc. etc. Only one fighter in the heavyweight division never was exposed in the ring, only in 21st century boxing forums.
Side note; if any of you photographers out there want to prove me wrong on that rabbit punch, send me the proof at my email.