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Joe Mesi, USA 14-2-0 (12) vs. “The Pride of Wales” Joe Calzaghe, UK 4-0-0 (4)

The crowd hasn’t been in their seats since the beginning of the Fitzsimmons-Mercer fight. Wembley Stadium is rockin’ and rollin’ again and this is a scene that hasn’t been viewed since the Beatles. Will the anticipated public debut live up to a nation’s desire for an eventual world champion? Calzaghe comes out and lands the first two punches of the fight. There is no feeling out process here. The adrenaline from the excitement and boisterous crowd helps to propel both fighters into a slugfest. I believe the home favorite did the most damage and landed the better blows here in the 1st. The less-experience Calzaghe, treats Mesi like a punching bag and scores better in the 2nd. Another impressive round for the Brit, here in the 3rd. Mesi is unable to land more than one punch at a time. Calzaghe’s speed and skill level seem to be frustrating the bigger, Mesi. 14-2 for Calzaghe in the 4th. Will Mesi win a round? Mesi lands a couple of jabs but is quickly countered in a relatively uneventful 5th. Mesi goes down from a combination 33 seconds into the 6th and the crowd is going crazy! Mesi is up at the count of seven…let’s see if Calzaghe has the patience and experience to finish the fight here or if he throws wildly and let’s Mesi survive. I think Mesi showed his ring experience by tying up his opponent while avoiding any more damage. Mesi is down again from a clean, short combination. There is still over two minutes left in the round. This will be the second consecutive round that Mesi has had to try to survive with so much time left before the bell. “Baby Joe” survives the round again. The crowd is excited for their hometown favorite, but Calzaghe’s corner might be a little worried that they couldn’t finish the show. Mesi has decent power, so he will always have a puncher’s chance. This situation reminds me of an interesting quote I heard from another Brit, Lennox Lewis, “It only take one punch to alter history.” Calzaghe will learn to close out fights better as he gains experience down the road. A third knockdown in round 8 and a third chance to end the fight doesn’t come to fruition. We have Calzaghe winning every single round. The question is whether “The Pride of Wales” will want to impress his supporters by going for the knockout or play it safe and not make a mistake that could cost him this fight. As we speak, Mesi lands a couple of hard shots and backs Calzaghe up. Will this play into the minds of Calzaghe and his corner? We go to the 11th. More of the same in the 11th and 12th. Mesi is having some problems with a cut underneath his left eye. The referee finally stops the fight at the 2:53 mark in the 14th with Calzaghe out pointing his opponent 28-0 in the round. The winner by (TKO14) is Joe Calzaghe. The scorecards were 130-114, 130-114, 129-115 when the fight was stopped. The stadium sure has changed since the 5th and 6th fight. The United States had taken a 4-2 lead with victories by Greg Page and Chris Byrd. The United Kingdom evened the series with their best fighter, Bob Fitzsimmons, and their hottest prospect, Joe Calzaghe, stepping up for their country by completely destroying their opponents in front of a raucous crowd of over 100,000 people. What a debut. Can Calzaghe carry a country's hope all the way to the mountain-top? We will sure be interested to follow the path of this heralded fighter.