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Wednesday, June 11, 2003

By Chuck Finder, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

With a note from his doctor, Paul Spadafora is convinced he immediately must move up in weight class -- even if it would mean relinquishing his lightweight world championship.

His promoter wants to get a second medical opinion. He scheduled a physical next week for the International Boxing Federation champion at 135 pounds.

"I'm going up to 140," Spadafora announced yesterday, in between a light workout and a meeting with the media inside the 3rd Avenue Gym, whose owner is staging a pro-am card Saturday. "It's better for my health to go up to 140, and that's what I'm going to do. I feel I did well at 135. I got the reputation I deserved. Now I'm going to try to get a 140-pound title.

"Hate giving that [135-pound title] up. I worked all my life just to say I'm any kind of champ, let alone world champ. I wish I would've won that title three weeks ago."

By that, he was referring to the May 17 title-unification bout between him and World Boxing Association champion Leonard Dorin, with whom he fought to a declared draw.

It was the vexing run-up to the bout that sent Spadafora to a UPMC physician last week. While his weight hovered around 140 pounds for weeks, a first for him, the McKees Rocks boxer maintained he was urinating blood for 10 days before the fight. Boxers usually pass blood after a brutal, kidney-punched fight but not from the training and diet before one. Spadafora said a doctor told him it wasn't medically feasible for him to attempt to make the same 135-pound division in which he has competed half of his lifetime, since he was 14.

HBO's boxing boss, Xavier James, said last night that his network, which broadcast the ballyhooed first fight in Pitt's Petersen Events Center, would be interested in televising a rematch even if both Dorin and Spadafora weighed 140 pounds, officially the division known as junior welterweight. Yet such an adjustment means both boxers would need to officially yield their current lightweight titles. HBO is eyeing an early-2004 date for a rematch valued at $850,000 to $1 million apiece.

"We just want good fights," James said. "If that fight happens ... in some point in the future, it doesn't matter if it's for a title or not. Especially in a situation where a guy is medically unable to make 135. We don't necessarily want a title fight; we want a good fight."

Then again, James offered another variation: After that exciting May 17 match, perhaps World Boxing Council champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. might want a made-for-HBO shot at Dorin or Spadafora first.

"Nothing is really new with the fights," promoter Mike Acri cautioned. "With Dorin ... or [Arturo] Gatti," whom Spadafora could face in a 140-pound, junior-welterweight match that is yet another possibility for later in 2004.

"That appointment was for something else. That was not to check his body weight. We're trying to measure his body fat and body weight. Check his internal organs. He does have some troubles, and he wants to make sure he's OK. He has to take some more tests next week, and we'll see what the doctors say."

Spadafora has talked for two years, if not more, about ascending in weight divisions from the one he first won in August 1999.

"I've heard it so many times [from Paul]," said Acri, who expected the camp to reach a final decision in July. "If I hear it from a doctor who thinks it's not physically possible, then it's a different story."

Word late last week from one was good enough to convince Spadafora, who beamed while discussing the subject yesterday.

He envisioned officially vacating his IBF title next week and moving into a class currently owned by undisputed, unified champion Kostya Tszyu. Then he aimed to wage a 140-pound fight on pay-per-view TV in Las Vegas next fall, likely in October, as a tuneup for Dorin. "I haven't taken a day off since the fight," he said. "I haven't been in a gym sparring, but I've been jogging and walking and working out. I haven't picked up a drink [of alcohol] in like 70 days. I'm anxious to get back in the ring.

"At 140, I'll be a lot stronger, and I feel like I can stop [Dorin] inside eight rounds. I don't see that going 12 rounds. And the winner gets Gatti."

Further promoting a Saturday pro-am card at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Spadafora is scheduled to appear along with many of the Iron City Pro Boxing competitors at 8:30 p.m. today at a VIP party open to the public at the Sports Rock Cafe in the Strip District.

He also plans to be in attendance in Chester, W.Va., at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow to see co-trainer Tom Yankello's heavyweight, Abraham Okine of Beaver. The card inside the Grande Ballroom at Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Resort also includes Tom Wilt of Altoona, Lou Bizzaro of Erie and former ESPN2 fighter Marcos "The Terminator" Primera of Durham, N.C. Tickets, costing $15 and $25, are available through Ticketmaster or at the door.

Jimmy Cvetic, of 3rd Avenue Gym Dowtown, will have is stable of boxers fighting under the Iron City Pro Boxing banner at 7 p.m. Saturday in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Rayco "War" Saunders of Beltzhoover, Mike "Fully Loaded" Carr of North Side, Jeff Coyle of Monroeville, Danny "Tiger" Mitchell of North Side and Danny Harvison of McKeesport are slated for pro fights. Regional Golden Glove champions Rob and Mike Strauss of Mt. Lebanon plus Luke Chiovitti of Kennedy are scheduled for amateur bouts. Tickets, which cost $15, $20, $25 and $35, are available through AlbertsGifts.com or at the door.