Buffalo Sabres

When people describe professional boxer Baby Joe Mesi as one of the “biggest” sports fans in Western New York, they’re not talking about the heavyweight contender’s 6-foot-1, 230-pound frame.

Known as “Buffalo’s Third Franchise,” Mesi’s wide range of fans and admirers over the years have made him privy to the ins and outs of Buffalo’s other two pro sports franchises — the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres.

Couple that with the many friends he’s made over the years, including pro football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly and Buffalo Sabres enforcer Andrew Peters, and you can see why Mesi is one of the area’s most “informed” sports celebrities.

Mesi, 30-0 with 25 knockouts, will take on Brazilian Daniel Frank (17-11-1, 17 KOs) Friday night at the Grand Prix Gala of the Budweiser Boxing Series at Uniprix Stadium in Montreal.

The six-round heavyweight battle, which was added as a preliminary fight on a card that features junior middleweights Joachime Alcine and Javier Mamani in the main event, is expected to be nationally televised on ESPN at 9 p.m.

“Baby Joe’s a big Buffalo Sabres fan, but it was nice to see that the Sabres are also fans of Baby Joe,” said Mesi’s father and manager, Jack Mesi, in an exclusive Greater Niagara Newspapers interview recently with Team Mesi.

“We saw some of the Sabres players after one of their playoff games and they all had on Baby Joe hats,” Jack said.

“I’m friends with a couple of the guys,” Baby Joe said.

“Andrew Peters called me and said he was a big boxing fan and wanted to meet me. He’s a nice kid. We’ve got together a few times.”

Among other Sabres and former Sabres who Baby Joe described as friends are Rob Ray, Tim Connolly, Rhett Warrener, Marty Biron and Jay McKee.

With great foresight, Baby Joe, 32, had this to say when asked to assess the Sabres-Carolina Hurricanes Eastern Conference Final Series with the Sabres leading two games to one: “I’m a little nervous right now. I don’t know. If I had to make a prediction, I’d say if they stay healthy, they’ll win the series, but it’s going to be a lot of hard work. It will probably go seven games. The injuries on defense haven’t helped.”

Carolina went on to win the series in seven games over an injury-riddled Sabres team.

Mesi is also a huge Bills fan, and says he stays in touch with former quarterback Jim Kelly, who led the team to four straight Super Bowls.

“Dan Kelly (Jim’s brother) lives a few houses away from me so I see Dan and Jim quite often,” Baby Joe said. “(Former head coach) Greg Williams still keeps in touch. I talked to (former Bills special team star) Steve Tasker the other day. I told Steve that I wasn’t too happy with their draft picks, but he told me he was very happy.

“I don’t follow college football enough to know how good these players are. But Steve told me he was happy with the draft. If Steve Tasker and Marv Levy say they’re happy with the draft, then I am too.

“I don’t expect anything huge to happen next season,” Baby Joe said.

“They’ve got a ways to go. I don’t think they’re going to be as successful as some of the great Bills teams of the past.”

Mesi, a 1991 graduate of Sweet Home High School, played football and was the Panthers starting center, before breaking his wrist and being moved to guard. On former Sweet Home athletics director Joe Shifflet, now the head football coach at Niagara Falls High School, Baby Joe said, “he knows his stuff.”

When asked about his interest in other national pro sports, Baby Joe was typically honest and straight forward.

On the NBA, he said, “I don’t watch it much. I’m not that good of a basketball player anyway.” On pro baseball, he said, “I was at the New York Yankees opener this year. I like the Yankees.”

While saying he’s not a real big NASCAR fan, he pointed out proudly, “... my attorney, Paul Cambria, races Formula One cars.”

Baby Joe won’t wait very long to jump back in the ring for his third fight this year. A July 8 fight is on tap at the Coushatta Casino in Kinder, La., against an opponent who has yet to be determined.