About this time a year ago, Paul Spadafora gladly relinquished his lightweight world championship. Not because of a problem with the International Boxing Federation belt, but rather with the belt-tightening he required to get down to the 135-pound limit. In short, what a difference 5 pounds and one year make.

Two bouts into his junior-welterweight tenure, Spadafora feels hale and prepared enough for a title chance at his newfound weight.

"I want to fight a world-class fight. I want to fight a great guy," he said late Saturday night, after recording a $25,000 payday and a technical knockout -- his first in eight meaningful fights and four and a half years -- against Costa Rican Francisco Campos. "I'm going to be 29 years old. I want to step up. I'm ready for bigger and better things."

His camp hopes to begin untangling his fall schedule next week, after World Boxing Council junior-welterweight champion Arturo Gatti meets Leonard Dorin Saturday. Dorin was most recently seen fighting Spadafora to a draw here in May 2003. A Gatti triumph could put Spadafora (38-0-1) in position to challenge that champ. That could mean a possible October date in Atlantic City, N.J., on cable television.

"I think Gatti or [Ricky] Hatton is a real possibility," manager Al McCauley said, the latter a reference to a Brit boxer who recently reached a tentative agreement to fight Vivan Harris next, likely in the fall. "We should be able to make our announcement in a week. And the way he looked, he can beat anybody."

Campos (17-1-1) is a boxing nobody outside of Costa Rica, where he fought all but one of his previous pro matches. If nothing else, though, Campos provided a far more game competitor than Ruben Galvan, Spadafora's quiet victim in his April ring return after a year's layoff and his two arrests in the fall.

This McKees Rocks boxer early on enlivened a Chevrolet Amphitheatre crowd of 3,000 that included his pregnant girlfriend, Nadine Russo. The place hushed a tad when he sustained a cut over his left eye in the second round, courtesy of Campos. Yet new cutman Malcolm Garrett of Michigan City, Ind., closed the gash for the rest of the bout, prompting McCauley to declare afterward that Spadafora's corner has found a full-time replacement for the late Al Gavin and Spacky Delio.

Spadafora turned the trick on Campos in the 10th and final round, when he opened a long, deep cut over his opponent's right eye. After one look at the injury, ringside physician Dr. Lawrence Biskin suggested that they stop the fight, and referee Rick Steigerwald ended it 1:02 into the 10th. That gave Spadafora his first TKO since similarly retiring Renato Cornett with cuts in December 1999 amid his first IBF lightweight title defense. (Coincidentally, both boxers ascribed their cuts to accidental head butts rather than being tagged with punches, which indeed appeared to be the cause.)

A mixture of sharp jabs, hooks, combinations and his usual defensive posturing enabled Spadafora to dominate the fight after a slow, measured first round. Although McCauley went so far as to say Saturday was the best his fighter has appeared since his title victory against Israel Cardona in August 1999, Spadafora at least looked more polished and energetic than in the Galvan fray. And the extra weight may have helped.

Because Campos experienced difficulty in reaching the contracted 142 pounds for this fight, the limit was raised to 145 -- and Campos still had to sweat down to that. So, after stepping on the scales Saturday morning at 145, Spadafora entered the ring that night at probably the heaviest weight of his career, near 150.

"This weight is better for me," he said, referring to the 140-pound junior-welterweight standard. "Of course it's going to be the healthiest I've ever been. One hundred forty-five, it's like a dream come true. The 135 pounds was killing me. I can't stress that enough. ... My legs weren't feeling right. The whole nine yards."

McCauley added, "Paul could have made 142. The agreed-upon weight was 142. We wanted the fight, so we made accommodations. Paul's bigger now. He's stronger now. And he's still a boxer."

A chance at Gatti and a belt would necessitate a weight of 140.

It's only a 5-pound uptick from lightweight, but it's a comfortable size for Spadafora. He is prepared to take another measure of his newfound volume.

Said he, "We're ready to fight the big fights."