"Baby" Joe Mesi (born November 27, 1973) is an American retired boxer and Democratic Party politician from Tonawanda, New York.
During his career, he defeated former world champion Vassily Jirov as well as former title challengers Bert Cooper, Monte Barrett, DaVarryl Williamson, and Jorge Luis González.
Mesi made it all the way to the finals in the 1996 Olympic Trials, but lost to eventual US heavyweight representative Lawrence Clay-Bey.
In response to Dr. Julian E. Bailes, chairman of the department of neurosurgery at the West Virginia University School of Medicine, opinion that: "Football players and other athletes who had even more severe head injuries than Mesi were allowed to continue their careers without further harmful effects."
He launched several ineffective lawsuits against parties they claimed had leaked news of his health, while also appealing to Nevada representatives that he should be allowed to box.
In 2006, Mesi was again licensed by boxing commissions in Puerto Rico, Louisiana, Arkansas and Michigan, with a handful of other states to follow suit in 2007.
[12] Most recently, Joe has taken a position with the Democratic Senate Majority heading up a local Buffalo liaison office.
Mesi's name was circulated as a potential Democratic candidate to replace the retiring Jim Hayes in the New York State Assembly.