Spadafora to vacate title, move up in weight class

Paul Spadafora has long denounced the difficulty of making weight at 135 pounds and vowed that his lightweight days were numbered.

Now, the McKees Rocks boxer says he plans to vacate his International Boxing Federation lightweight belt and move up to the junior welterweight division in his next fight.

Spadafora said Tuesday that a rematch with World Boxing Association champion Leonard Dorin -- they fought to a draw in a unification bout on May 17 - will be in the 140-pound class.

And with no IBF belt on the line.

"I hate thinking about it - you've got to give (the belt) up without losing it," Spadafora said at Third Avenue Gym, Downtown. "I worked all my life just to say I was a champion, let alone a world champion. All great fighters need to go up. Now, I've got to get the 140-pound title."

Michael Acri, who promotes Spadafora, downplayed the remarks as "conjecture."

"That's what he says the week after every fight," Acri said.

Spadafora has legitimate health concerns about fighting at 135, and is awaiting results of a physical examination taken Thursday. He has had a history of trouble keeping the weight off his 5-foot-9 frame, and there are concerns that the loss of too much water in a bout could cause organ damage.

"They said there's no way physically possible I should be making this weight," Spadafora said. "I can't make it. I'm going to get killed. I know going into the fight I'm not healthy. I can't shrink my body no more.

"I don't see me having no problems making 140. When you go to camp and have to lose 20 pounds, it's too hard. I get down to 139, then the last four pounds are pretty hard."

Spadafora has remained in the lightweight division for the sake of a colossal payday that a unification bout with World Boxing Council champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. would bring. He might have found his money maker, however, in two-time Romanian Olympian Dorin.

Their 12-round bloodbath brought Spadafora national notoriety from Sports Illustrated, which noted that he is the only American-born white champion in boxing.

"I feel I did well at 135," Spadafora said. "I got the respect I deserve."

Spadafora said his next fight could come Oct. 3 on Pay Per View or Dec. 19 on ESPN2, but Acri said, "at this point, there's nothing in the lineup."

Acri said that Spadafora's future weight class has yet to be determined. It depends on how the boxing divisions shape up and which fight will make Spadafora the most money.

There's a possibility that Spadafora could make another mandatory defense of his lightweight title, against Levander Johnson (32-3-2), the IBF's highest-ranked contender.

"There is nothing definite," Acri said. "These are all half-truths. Ninety percent of this business is all maybes."