Friday, June 10, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Commission maintains Mesi ban

Heavyweight plans to challenge ruling in court, return to ring

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Joe Mesi appears before the Nevada Athletic Commission on Thursday in an unsuccessful bid to get his medical ban lifted. Photo by ISAAC BREKKEN/REVIEW-JOURNAL

Heavyweight boxer Joe Mesi plans to take the fight to court after the Nevada Athletic Commission voted unanimously to maintain his medical suspension.

Mesi was suspended indefinitely after his victory over Vassiliy Jirov at Mandalay Bay on March 13, 2004, when post-fight MRI exams revealed two subdural hematomas, or bleeds on the brain.

At an April hearing, the commission's medical advisory board recommended by a 4-0 vote that Mesi's suspension be upheld.

On Thursday, Mesi presented testimony from five physicians, all of whom said he is fit to resume boxing. But none of the commissioners seemed swayed by the testimony in a 4 1/2-hour hearing at the Grant Sawyer Building.

"Maybe at the end of the day, it is this commission's job to throw in the towel for you," commissioner Dr. Tony Alamo said to Mesi, who is 29-0 and was ranked No. 1 by the WBC before his suspension.

Mesi said he would do whatever it takes to fight again. The federal Muhammad Ali Professional Boxer Safety Act mandates that states honor each other's suspensions, meaning Mesi is unable to fight in the United States until Nevada lifts his suspension.

Attorney Richard Wright said a decision on where to file the appeal hasn't been made but it's likely to be in state court.

Dr. Stephen Olvey, the director of the neuroscience intensive care unit at the University of Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, testified via video conference that Mesi is competent to box.

Olvey is the director of medical affairs for the Champ Car open-wheel racing series and has spent much of his career researching high-velocity head injuries in sports. He examined Mesi earlier this month.

Olvey said he has treated numerous athletes with subdural hematomas that were much worse than Mesi's and those athletes were able to return to competition. Olvey cited former race car driver Roberto Guerrero, who was involved in a serious practice crash in 1987 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, suffering much worse head injuries than Mesi, but returned to racing without incident.

"I see no reason he can't return to his chosen profession of boxing," Olvey said.

Mesi is at no greater risk than any other boxer, Olvey said, because the subdural hematoma has healed.

"His subdural has healed completely and, like a cut or bruise anywhere else on the body, once it's healed, it's healed," Olvey said.

Several commissioners pointed out that no studies have been done on head injuries to boxers and emphasized boxing is different from other contact sports.

Alamo said several times that Mesi bled again in the same spot when he attempted to move heavy furniture several weeks after the Jirov fight while still under doctor's care.

But Dr. Julian Bailes, a neurologic consultant for the NFL Players Association, dismissed that by saying, "In my experience, moving furniture does not cause a brain hemorrhage."

Without an injury to the brain itself, which he said Mesi did not have, Bailes said he has never heard of anyone being more prone to a subdural hematoma simply because he had one previously.

That's the reason there is no research material on the issue, Bailes said.

Commissioner Dr. Flip Homansky cited statistics of more than 850 MRI exams the state has conducted that he said did not show abnormalities like Mesi's.

"There is no way I could allow myself in any way to be involved in allowing you to go back into the ring to take more punishment," Homansky told Mesi. "I feel as strongly about that now as I possibly could."