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Thursday, May 08, 2003

By Chuck Finder, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Leonard Dorin's handlers are threatening to cancel his May 17 title-unification bout against Paul Spadafora because they disapprove of the three judges and ring official assembled by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission.

Promoter Mike Acri stood by the commission's decisions and yesterday maintained that he expects the fight to go on as scheduled on HBO and inside Pitt's Petersen Events Center.

"We have a contract," Acri said.

Dorin's camp contends that its boxer, the World Boxing Association lightweight champion from Canada by way of Romania, will get an unequal decision because two of the three ringside judges are American, as is Spadafora, the International Boxing Federation lightweight champion. Yvon Michel, the president of the Interbox group that represents Dorin, told www.fightnews.com that if the panel doesn't change, "we will not box over there."

Greg Sirb, Pennsylvania's boxing boss and the past president of the U.S. Association of Boxing Commissioners, reiterated yesterday that he gathered the most "fair, neutral" panel possible for this fight -- especially when you consider that every other previous Spadafora title fight in Pennsylvania included in-state judges and Pittsburgh-based referees.

"I guess it's in Dorin's court now. We've had a lot of discussions this morning," Sirb said yesterday afternoon. "They want neutrality. And obviously, Spadafora's group is complaining they want Pennsylvania judges. This is probably as much pressure as I've had on me in a while.

"Do we want the fight? Yes, these are two bona fide world-champion boxers. I like the fight. If Dorin wants to fight, it's here."

Sirb said he spent nearly three weeks investigating the prospects before naming his ringside judges. From a list of 15 candidates supplied by Dorin's WBA sanctioning body, Ove Ovessen of Denmark was selected. From a list of 15 from the IBA, Patrick Russell of California was chosen. Sirb said he studied every pro round Ovessen scored and added that he has known Russell from his IBF, World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization judging. As the third judge, Sirb named Gary Merritt of Indiana, a fellow he also has known from IBF, WBA and WBO matches.

"In my 14 years here, we haven't done a fight without a Pennsylvania ref here," Sirb said, and for this one he picked Rudy Battle of Philadelphia.

"Our job is not to lean toward Spadafora because he's a 'local guy,' " Sirb added. "Our job is not to lean toward Dorin because he's the WBA champ. Our job here is to provide a neutral, fair playing field for both boxers, and that's what we've done with these officials. Neutral to us is nobody from Pennsylvania."

Dorin's camp wants no judges and officials from Canada (the fighter's place of residence) or Romania (his homeland), but also none from America. Phone messages to their Montreal offices went unanswered yesterday.

"This is the cream of the crop for officials," Sirb said of the U.S. pool. "We've had guys come in here before, like Billy Irwin from Canada [in 2000], who never had a problem with it. To be honest, my reputation is on the line here, too."