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10 years after his reign as IBF lightweight champion, Paul Spadafora finally got to within spittin’ distance of the world stage again but was thwarted in his attempt to capture the Interim WBA light welter strap by Venezuela’s Johan Perez at Mountaineer Casino in Chester, West Virginia on Saturday night.
Spadafora’s lightweight title run featured seven defenses with the last installment, a shattering draw against Leonard Dorin in 2003, finding the Pittsburgh native fortunate not to lose a very close contest.
The southpaw was never the same following the Dorin draw, struggling with personal difficulties that saw him absent from the ring for long stretches of time, facing journeymen when he was fighting but also slowly climbing the ladder at 140 pounds.
This past April, Spadafora won the NABF crown by defeating veteran Robert Frankel and it seemed that the now 38 year old Spadafora was finally ready once again for the big stage but Caracas resident Perez proved to be too high a hurdle last night in Chester.
Spadafora showed he still had solid defensive skills but his once razor sharp reflexes have dulled over the years and that proved to be a problem against the 30 year Perez, who was able to land his left jab with both frequency and accuracy, cutting the ex-champion around the eyes in the early rounds.
Despite the injuries, the local man grafted away, scoring at times and keeping Perez from taking control but an injury to his left elbow prevented Spadafora from being fully operational and always trying to play catchup against the visitor.
Spadafora had his best stretch of the contest in the eighth, ninth and tenth frames but Perez managed to recover in the eleventh before winning the final round with a higher work rate.
When the scores were read, Spadafora’s record of 48 wins was now accompanied by a lone loss as Perez was awarded the decision by margins of 117-111, 115-113 and 114-114.
Perez improves to 18-1-1 (12).
