Paul was solid title-holder. His boxing skills were sound, but He was the type of boxer that would plant his feet and fight on the inside a lot - and with that, He wasn't overly hard to hit. Most of his hype came from leaked sparring session against Floyd Mayweather, where He did really well - but it was young Floyd coming back to training after lay-off, You could see him collapsing to his knees after the sparring ended, clearly wasn't in top condition and too much was made off that. During his reign, Spadafora fought 3 genuine top 10 fighters. Victoriano Sosa (Even him probably borderline, maybe top 15), Angel Manfredy and Leonardo Dorin - and all 3 of those fights were very tough, hardly contested fights with not much in them. That was Spadafora's level. I don't believe He'd be able to seriously compete with all the top guys from his era - Johnston, Castillo, Mayweather, Chico, Casamayor.. Lazcano I'd favor to beat him as well. Solid fighter though, I enjoyed watching him fight.
I think Paul Spadafora is more known for that sparring session against Mayweather, than his actual fights inside the ring. He beat some solid names Manfredy, Sosa, Irwin, but also got a major gift vs Dorin no way he deserved a draw in that one, for me Spadafora was better than most of B+ level Lightweights at that time, but i don't think he beats A+ Lightweights of that time Mayweather, Castillo, Johnston, Corrales, etc. Overall i'd say an above average world champion with some nice skills, but i'd say a bit below the absolute best Lightweights of his era.
True, that along with undefeated record He had - until his come-back - that was also working on people's imagination. I see it pretty much the same as You. I think even Manfredy and Sosa fights were close, draw-ish type fights with maybe slight edge to Spaddy. Dorin fight - I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to call it a robbery, but I definitely felt that Dorin won and that draw was best that Paul could hope for. Above average title holder, yes. I think He was better than Grigoryan and Hatakeyama - who held other titles back then... but not quite there with the elite of that time.
Pito Cardona is the guy who put him on the map. Cardona had beaten Ivan Robinson and Golden Johnson and was top ten. Spadafora schooled him for the title.
Fair enough. Perhaps He cracked top 10 - but I never rated him. I thought his post-Spadafora career reflects his level better than that short run He had that got him into title fight.
Was thinking about starting the same thread to other day. Very good boxer, IMO. If I was a boxer I'd fight like he did....punch and get out. This way I'd maintain my pretty face.
That’s hindsight. Cardona had hype in the late 90s. He was Ring rated top 5 going into the Spadafora fight and made the annual in 97,98, and 99.
Sure, but this is classic section. I don't think it makes sense to ignore hindsight perspective while assesing historical fighters. Roy Jones Jr. didn't get great credit for beating Bernard Hopkins when They first met. In hindsight it's one of his bigger wins. Top 5 is high, but I guess Lightweight division was in a bit of a "low" after Shane's departure and before Castillo emerged and then all the talented guys from 130 moved up. Divisions go through ups and downs in terms of talent and competitivness. Thanks for pointing out his ratings, it's useful information - but I still stick to my opinion that 3 guys I mentioned earlier were Paul's top 3 opponents.
The latter is true perhaps, not sure on the former. Sosa clearly did better against their common opponent in Spadafora - and He had a good effort even against Floyd. He had that kind of career where He didn't have many "middle ground" opponents, a lot of padding record and couple major step-ups. Sosa looked like better fighter to me - although to be fair, I did not see many fights of Cardona fights from before his title shot. I mostly followed him from that point on. Maybe You are correct and I'm underestimating him, Spadafora was just on top of his game and Cardona fell off after that? Could be.
