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July 20, 2004
Spadafora dominates Campos, Kilimanjaro erupts
by
B. D. Gerard - Ringside
In his second fight as a junior welterweight, Paul
Spadafora, 'The Pittsburgh Kid', dominated and stopped
Francisco 'Pancho Azul' Campos from the Chevy
Amphitheatre in downtown Pittsburgh Saturday. After
dominating the action for most of the night with an
accurate jab, left and right hooks, and brilliant
defense, 'Spaddy' opened a cut over the Costa Rican's
eye in the tenth round, leading the referee to stop
the bout.
Spadafora improved to 38-0-1, but it's hard to make
too much of dominating second-tier opponents (unless
you are a fan of Mike Tyson or Roy Jones). On the
other hand, Spaddy has been tearing up the opposition
in the gym as well - rumor has it that he schooled so
many Mexican fighters in Freddie Roach's gym that
James Toney has dubbed him "The Mexican Assassin."
Fights with Ricky Hatton, Arturo Gatti, or the 'Pretty
Boy' himself, Floyd Mayweather, would all be very
attractive bouts. (on the side: I think he's an
underdog against Hatton, toss-up against Gatti, and
prohibitive underdog against Mayweather.)
No matter who Spaddy takes on in his next fight, he
certainly looks ready for a step up in competition.
After two lackluster rounds that saw Spadafora suffer
a cut over his left eye, he took control in the third,
and stood right in front of Campos most of the night.
Campos never mounted a serious attack, and Spaddy
controlled most of the fight with his jab. And when he
wasn't jabbing, his head movement and shoulder rolls
allowed him to slip and counter beautifully. On the
few occasions where Campos seemed to be in position to
attack, Spaddy effectively turned and moved away,
despite what appeared to be a small ring.
The fight effectively ended in the fourth round when
Spadafora staggered Campos with a three-punch
combination. At this point Campos seemed confused at
why a guy with no power was hurting him, and further,
why he couldn’t land a punch, even with Spaddy
standing right in front of him. Indeed, over the next
several rounds, Campos simply didn't land any
significant punches. In contrast, Spadafora dominated
the middle rounds with jabs and hooks, and then took a
liking to the straight-left jab in the later rounds.
Whatever his choice of punches, he landed them
cleanly. From my vantage point, the first two rounds
were toss-ups and Spaddy clearly won the next seven
rounds. In the final round, Spaddy landed a big right
hook that opened a gash over Campos' eye, leading to
the stoppage.
I hesitate to use the term "boxing clinic," but that
is what it looked like: Jab, hook to the body, hook to
the head; jab to the head, jab to the body; jab,
straight left. I had never seen Spadafora live, and it
was a pleasure to watch such a skilled fighter in
action.
Of course, Spaddy is not known for his
decision making outside the ring. As he left the ring
his fans had lined the chute where he made his ring
walk so that they could give him a hero's sendoff, but
instead Spaddy found an alternate route from the ring
to the locker room.
The uninspired card name "Saturday Night's Alright for
Fighting" should have been named "Christmas Comes
Early to Downtown Pittsburgh," as the local fighters
were treated to several gift decisions.
In the co-feature of the evening, undefeated
Pittsburgh prospect Joe Wyatt took on Marty "Too
Sweet" Robbins in an 8-round junior welterweight
fight. Robbins looks like he could easily campaign at
junior lightweight and came in a few pounds below the
limit - he looked like a homunculus compared to Wyatt.
Nonetheless, Too Sweet, who had split 38 previous
professional fights, was definitely the more
experienced and comfortable fighter in the ring and
took it to the larger Wyatt.
No charity was necessary in the first, and most
entertaining, bout of the night. An absolutely
frightening figure strutted up the aisle to open the
evening -- Ray "Mount Kilimanjaro" Oluhuwgle, a
265-lb. Nigerian built like an NFL defensive end. The
34-year-old had taken an 18-year hiatus from the
sport, but hasn't skipped a beat. Joe McCall followed
him into the ring, but lacked the physique of his
opponent.
The second fight pitted Pittsburgh's Rick Carter
against Corey Gregory from Cleveland, again in the
heavyweight division. Carter is an undefeated fighter
but was confused by the southpaw Gregory, and there
was a decidedly different pace in this fight from the
opening. Gregory controlled the tempo and landed more
effective shots, but after four rounds of pawing and
not much effective punching, Carter took a unanimous
decision victory. Carter improved to 3-0 and Gregory
dropped to 4-6.
Then came Dan "Hardware" Harvison, a local cruiser
known for mixing it up (actually "Hard Way," I'm told,
but I like Hardware better). Here, he mixed it up
with Carl Gathright for six rounds of very close
action. Harvision landed a lot of punches, but has a
nasty habit of backing straight up to avoid punches.
Gathright used this to his advantage by switching to
southpaw in the fourth, and Harvision simply wasn't
fast enough to avoid the straight left, over and over.
Harvision did do some good work, and I thought he won
the fight, but certainly not by the 5-1 on the judges'
cards. The helpful Hardware man is now 9-0.
Boxing will return to The City that Still Lives with
its Mother on August 7, when Rayco "War" Jones
headlines a card against Jesse Ottman at Heinz Field.
PHOTO CREDIT: The talented Bill Emes
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