Thursday, March 11, 2004 | 9:03 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
The wide open heavyweight division will lose at least one of its would-be contenders Saturday night when former cruiserweight world champion Vassiliy Jirov and undefeated slugger Joe Mesi collide in the primary undercard bout at Mandalay Bay.
Just as important, the outcome will simultaneously lift the winner to a prominence he does not presently enjoy.
"I don't think he knows fully what he's getting into," Mesi said Wednesday of Jirov moving up a division. "It's much different than sparring with heavyweights with headgear on. It's much different when the pressure is on.
"I respect Jirov but I'm thinking of putting him back in the cruiserweight division. He can be the cruiserweight champion again."
Jirov was the International Boxing Federation champion at 190 pounds until losing a disputed decision to James Toney last year. He's still upset about the judges' verdict in that fight and wants a rematch now that Toney is also fighting as a heavyweight.
"My opinion, I beat James Toney," Jirov said. "A lot of people were shocked when they announced who won the fight. I feel I won it and I want to get even with him."
Whether Jirov deserved the decision against Toney or not, he has to beat Mesi to legitimize his decision to move to heavyweight.
"It's the right time, so why not?" Jirov said, when asked why he would test himself against an undefeated prospect at this time.
Mesi is 28-0 with 25 knockouts and Jirov is 33-1 with 29 KOs.
The sports book at Mandalay Bay lists Mesi as a minus 180 favorite and Jirov as a plus 160 underdog. It's minus 110 both ways for the proposition bet, which asks whether the fight will or will not exceed 8 1/2 rounds.
Mesi vs. Jirov is part of the Shane Mosley vs. Winky Wright card in the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
"The casual fans may not know too much about me, but I'm the hottest ticket seller in the heavyweight division," said Mesi, who routinely fights to big crowds in his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y. "But we're moving around to get some more exposure and that's why I fought (vs. Monte Barrett) last time at Madison Square Garden and it's why I'm fighting at Mandalay Bay this time.
"It means a great deal to me."
Asked whether the pressure of the situation will be a deterrent, Mesi said his past experiences will keep him from freezing in the spotlight.
"After fighting in front of my family and 16,000 fans, fighting in front of 10,000 strangers won't be too tough," he said. "It certainly can't be any more pressure for me here than I've faced in Buffalo."
Mesi said he would weigh 228 pounds for the fight and Jirov, a southpaw, expects to weigh in at 205.
"I'm faster than he is and boxing is not about how big you are, but how fast you are," Jirov said of taking on a bigger man. "I have a brain for this and I can punch, too.
"I'm going to make Mesi sorry for taking this fight."
The remainder of the undercard includes Carl Daniels, 48-4-1, vs. Rico Cason, 16-9, eight rounds, super middleweights; Jose Celaya, 21-1, vs. Richard Lee Hall, 9-12-1, eight rounds, junior middleweights; Conal McPhee, 6-1-1, vs. Rodney Moore, 5-9-3, six rounds, light heavyweights; Emmit Linton, 31-3, vs. Marcos Primera, 16-6-1, six rounds, middleweights; Vaia Zaganas, 14-3, vs. Yumi Takano, 9-7, six rounds, strawweights; Mario Santiago, 6-0, vs. Ramaz Gazashvili, 2-0, four rounds, featherweights; and Almazbek Raiymkulov, 14-0, vs. Luis Lizarraga, 31-29-4, six rounds, lightweights.
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