Mesi Stops Miller

Heavyweight Joe Mesi (36-0, 29 KOs) make short work of another C-level opponent tonight, stopping Shannon Miller (15-4, 9 KOs) in the 1st round at the Twin River Event Center, in Lincoln, Rhode Island. As often the case, Mesi, 33, looked superb offensively, opening up with huge salvos in the opening seconds of the bout, hurting Miller almost immediately. With little being thrown back at him, Mesi quickly dropped Miller with a scorching right hand that had him badly hurt as he slid to the canvas. The referee Joey Lopino moved in and called a stop to the bout at 2:51 of the round. For Mesi, it was his seventh consecutive win since making his return to boxing in 2006 following a two-year suspension by the Nevada boxing officials after he was diagnosed with a brain bleed.

To his credit, Mesi has shown great improvement since his first two bouts after his suspension, in which he looked pudgy, slow and poor defensively. However, Mesi has looked sharp in his last three bouts, and would seem to be ready for a better class of opposition than the likes of Miller.