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Round two between lightweights won't be here

Monday, May 19, 2003

By Chuck Finder, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Paul Spadafora pressed a microphone closer to his battered and bloodied face than even Leonard Dorin's gloves approached, making sure everyone heard his words.

	Paul Spadafora can't avoid a right by Leonard Dorin during their title unification fight Saturday night at the Petersen Events Center. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette) Related article No style points for Spadafora in fight vs. Dorin

Those important words early yesterday morning were:

Romania.

Rematch.

"I would like to fight Leonard Dorin in Romania," the still-champion lightweight of the International Boxing Federation said after a debatable draw and indisputably brutal fight Saturday night against the World Boxing Association lightweight titlist inside the Petersen Events Center. "That would be beautiful to me. He came to my hometown, so I would like to go to his hometown.

"I definitely want to have a rematch. I want to get a chance to prove that I should be the WBA and IBF champion of the world."

While the two fighters' camps agreed on so little the fortnight before this proposed title-unification match on HBO, they reached the same conclusion as Saturday night turned into Sunday morning.

They would meet again. Somewhere. Anywhere. In September, maybe. On HBO again, likely.

"We'd go to Hell for enough money," promoter Mike Acri said.

"We'll fight anywhere in the world," added Al McCauley, Spadafora's vociferous manager. He also said each fighter deserves a $1 million TV payday the next time, particularly if World Boxing Council lightweight champ Floyd Mayweather earns $2.5-plus million from HBO for what Spadafora described as "pitty-pat" victories.

Dorin's hometown of Ploesti is roughly a one-hour drive from the capital city of Bucharest, where the rematch conceivably could occur. Yvon Michel, general manager of the Montreal-based Interbox that represents Dorin, said other Romanian cities could stage such a fight, attracting crowds of 10,000 to 15,000 -- nearly twice and three times the estimated 5,200 at the Petersen Events Center Saturday. But the more Michel talked yesterday morning, the more it sounded as if Dorin's adopted province of Quebec might constitute a more feasible site.

After all, HBO would prefer to limit its costs and broadcast this fight from a more friendly locale, be it a casino seeking a brawling rematch reminiscent of Arturo Gatti-Mickey Ward or perhaps the Interbox venue of choice -- the Bell (formerly Molson) Centre in Montreal.

"We came here for the visibility and the impact on the boxing world," Michel said. "We fought the second [Raul] Balbi fight in Romania last May, and it seemed like nobody saw it outside Romania or Canada.

"We'll see how committed HBO will be for this fight. But we're not coming back here. That would be unfair."

Funny how he uttered the term unfair.

It was a phrase that he and fellow Interbox official Don Majeski bandied about the previous fortnight, publicly disputing the ringside judges named by Executive Director Greg Sirb, Commissioner Andy "Kid" DePaul and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission.

By midnight Saturday, those three judges rendered a controversial decision. Or indecision, in this instance.

The judge from the WBA, Guillermo Perez Pineda of Panama City, Panama, scored it 115-114 for Spadafora, indicating that the judge put one round at a 10-10 draw. "Don't tell me that," Michel said later. "I just can't comment on that."

The judge from the IBA, Patrick Russell of La Mesa, Calif., scored it 115-113 for Dorin.

And Gary Merritt of Muncie, Ind., the relatively title-inexperienced official with mostly IBF judging on his resume and the one selection that Interbox found most disagreeable, scored it a 114-114 draw.

Hence, after 1,885 punches thrown (one every 1.1 seconds), after 603 punches landed (344 by Dorin), after cuts left all of the boxers' eyes bloodied (Dorin needed six stitches), after 12 dizzying rounds of a fight that was Spadafora's most severe career beating by its midpoint, nothing was settled. They retained their titles. They will go on to fight as undefeated champs -- Spadafora at 36-0-1; Dorin 21-0-1.

In reality, as HBO's commentators noted throughout the broadcast, it was a difficult fight to score. Both fighters got defensive, Spadafora in the latter rounds returning to his angling and spinning and feinting ways, Dorin opting to punch and back away. Both fighters blocked several of the other's offerings. And Spadafora landed dozens of body blows that judges might not have scored as highly as Dorin's shots to the hometown favorite's head.

The Post-Gazette originally scored it 115-113 for Dorin, who showed no adverse effects from a 10-month layoff between fights. But upon further review, after watching the broadcast replay, it was easy to see how the fight caused such a disparity of opinion and how Merritt's 114-114 draw could have been the most plausible. The fifth round probably belonged to Spadafora and gave him a 3-2 lead in rounds to that point. Dorin surged ahead by maybe 5-3 before the ninth and 10th rounds that may have gone either way.

No wonder ringside scorecards differed, with HBO's Larry Merchant calling it a draw and Harold Lederman, two chairs away, calling it 116-112, Dorin.

It was a unanimous decision in being undecided.

"I still say the reverse discrimination caused by Interbox" affected the judges' scoring, McCauley groused.

One agreement that Spadafora's handlers reached was: They need a new cut man. Spacky Delio, 80, helped to set up their corner at the start, then left the work to co-trainer Jesse Reid, who did a credible job but couldn't staunch the bleeding that bothered Spadafora starting in the ninth. Spadafora pawed at the messy right eye, streaming red at times, through the final rounds, most of which he won. Just the same, it diverted some of Reid's attention in a corner where Spadafora seemed to dearly need direction to return to his style of boxing, rather than the risky prospect of punching with a puncher such as Dorin.

McCauley said, from hereafter, "we will bring in another cut man ... so Jesse doesn't have to do double duty."

It wasn't as if Dorin was unmarred. He was 15 minutes later than Spadafora for the post-fight news conference, so he could receive medical attention. Spadafora was the first to arise from his podium seat and give Dorin a standing ovation.

"I met a real warrior," Dorin said. "That's why it was a great night for all of us. I think the people were happy because they came to see a fight. And it was a great fight."

Round One of Two, in all probability.