If only boxing were as simple as Facebook.

There, if asked about a tumultuous relationship with the sport that made him a hero in his native Western New York and got him within a fight or two of a try at a heavyweight title, Joe Mesi could simply say "It's complicated" and log off.

In reality, though, it's not quite so easily explained.

Now just a few weeks short of his 36th birthday and two years removed from his last for-pay appearance in a ring, Mesi is committedly non-committal on whether he'll ever renew his quest for a title belt, or, at the very least, risk a record that's read "36-0, 29 KOs" since 2007.

"We're getting close to the two-year anniversary since I last boxed, so, no, I guess I really wouldn't be considered an active fighter," he said this week in a FitzHitz interview.

"Could I be? Would I be? Yes, if the right offer came along. And by the right offer, I mean the right opponent in the right state at the right time for the right money.

"I still think I could beat a lot of heavyweights, but it remains to be seen if I'll ever get the opportunity."

Known as "Baby Joe" to an adoring Buffalo-area fan base, Mesi began his professional career in 1997 and reeled off 28 wins against increasingly stiffer competition before meeting ex-cruiserweight champ Vassiliy Jirov in a March 13, 2004 bout in Las Vegas that changed his career path for good.

Clearly ahead through eight rounds, Mesi tired noticeably and was punished in the final six minutes before escaping with a one-point decision on all three scorecards.

It was later revealed that Mesi had suffered a subdural hematoma - commonly referred to as "bleeding on the brain" - which resulted in suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission and automatic denial of attempts to renew his boxing license there after it expired in 2005.

A two-year hiatus from the ring ended when he was licensed to fight in Puerto Rico and scored an eight-round decision over Ronald Bellamy in April 2006, then won six more fights over the subsequent 18 months in locales including Montreal, Russellville, Ark., Manistee, Mich. and Chester, W.Va.

His most recent fight - a one-round TKO of Shannon Miller on Oct. 12, 2007 in Lincoln, R.I. - was to be followed by a bout with Terry Smith a few months later, before a shoulder injury scrubbed the scheduled date and Mesi was eventually pulled away by other interests, primarily politics.

A run for a vacant Buffalo-area seat in the New York State Senate ended in defeat for Mesi against Republican challenger Michael Ranzenhofer last November, though he bounced back happily when he was married 10 days later.

He and his new wife, Michelle, are expecting their first child in late March 2010, and Mesi recently took a job with Stryker, a Michigan-based medical technology company that, among other things, provides equipment to diagnose and treat patients with subdural hematomas.

If nothing else, score one for irony.

"I've considered a lot of things and the offers come in from time to time, but they're usually on the ESPN level, and, while I love ESPN and had great times fighting there, they don't really interest me," he said.

"I've never fought for the money, and there was a time I would have fought for free, but I'm 35 now and my situation has changed. I've accepted a job, I'm married and expecting a child, so it would have to be for a lot of money and it would have to be worth my time."

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