This Saturday night at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Paul Spadafora hopes to unify his portion of the lightweight crown (IBF) against WBA titlist Leo Dorin.

For Spadafora, title unification will help to validate a career that many are skeptical of. Despite having unblemished record after 36 professional contests and capturing a world title, many believe his achievements are more a product of crafty maneuvering by his promoter than his skill and craft inside the ring. By unifying, he hopes to earn respect and recognition, something that has basically eluded him thus far from the general boxing fan.

"I hope so," Spadafora told MaxBoxing when asked if he thought a win over Dorin would elevate his status in boxing. "I believe that this guy that I'm fighting is just as tough as Mayweather because I've worked with both of them. I feel that I gotta be in the best shape of my life to fight this guy. So I'm going to take it one fight at a time but there's no question about it, whoever wins this fight should fight Mayweather. He's supposed to be the real champion, so whoever wins, let's get it on, whoever wins. Y'know, what I mean?"

Spadafora is treating this bout more as an eliminator for the right to face the WBC champion, Floyd Mayweather, than a unification bout. So far, getting the two sides together has proven futile.

"I was hoping that I could get the Mayweather fight after my fight with Dennis Pedersen but I felt I didn't look good or what not," Spadafora admitted. "But I feel that no matter what the outcome was I should be the one fighting Mayweather. I really believe that, because everybody knows that I have trouble making 135 pounds. Everybody knows that the only reason that I'm here (still at lightweight) is to fight Mayweather.

"So I'm going to take this fight and do my best to win this fight and hopefully get ready to fight Mayweather."

Spadafora has been inside the squared circle with 'the Pretty Boy' in the past. He had surprising success against Mayweather in a well-publicized sparring session in the summer of 1999 in Las Vegas. But it has to be noted that Spadafora was in the midst of a training camp and Mayweather was just getting back to the gym after a lengthy layoff.

"I don't think it was nuthin', actually," said Spadafora, who has become the boxing franchise of 'the Steel City'. "I just think that he came to the gym sleeping on me like I was just some regular dude who he was going to beat up or what not and it wasn't like that. I'm a real fighter, regardless. When we fight he better get ready to fight because I'm coming to fight and I'm sure he knows that by now."

So if Spadafora wins, can a match be made between the two to consolidate the lightweight division?

"I don't believe so," said Mike Acri, who promotes Spadafora and has tried to make a match between the two in the past. "Mayweather's got a contract that states for him to get all the T.V. money and very few dollars for Bob Arum, no money for the opponents and until HBO has a new contract for this, that's the way it will continue."

The bottom line is that Mayweather and Top Rank look like they'll go in the direction of the winner of an upcoming fight between top contenders Stevie Johnston and Juan Lazcano (a WBC title-eliminator) for their next fight.

And with Acri and Spadafora most likely looking for around the vicinity of a million dollars for a bout with Mayweather, opponents who will most likely cost much less -- guys like a Victoriano Sosa, Lazcano or Johnston -- are much more likely to face Mayweather. So what exactly is at stake for Acri's fighter against the hard-charging Dorin?

"I just think in today's day and age, they're always saying 'What does this mean, what does that mean? What does it lead to?' -- nothing leads to nothing, today," explained Acri. "Let's be honest, does it mean anything if Lennox Lewis, the heavyweight champion of the world, is fighting Kirk Johnson and no one cares.

"So any time you get a date, you get a date. Any time you can make a half-million dollars you're doing OK. It puts a lot of pressure on Mayweather to come to the table."

And if he doesn't come to the table, Spadafora's bout with Dorin could be his last at 135-pounds.

"I'm going up," Spadafora insisted. "I want to go up to 140 pounds. If I don't get the Mayweather fight than I feel in my heart that there's no reason being at 135 pounds because all that's gonna do is get me beat by somebody that can't beat me. That's the bottom line. I have trouble making 135 pounds, I'm gonna be better at 140-pounds. So if I don't get this Mayweather fight than I feel there's no reason to be at 135 pounds."

Spadafora is the consummate boxer who will never be considered a puncher, but he feels he will be physically stronger when he moves up in weight.

"What's going to happen at 140-pounds?" he asked rhetorically. "I'm just going to be fighting another guy but I'm gonna be healthier and I'll feel a lot better about myself when I go into the fight and I feel I'll give anybody trouble at 140 pounds."

One of the reasons Spadafora has had problems at the scales in the past was his haphazard eating habits. He hasn't been nearly elusive at the dinner table as he has been in the ring. His affinity for spicy food caused stomach ulcers last year and prompted a cancellation of his fight against WBO titlist Arturo Grigorian. You normally don't associate stomach ulcers to professional athletes who are in their prime at the age of 27. This episode has brought on a lifestyle change for the tricky southpaw.

"I've tried to keep my weight down off of fights," said Spadafora. "I don't like the layoffs that I get but I do that to myself by being out of the gym or what not. So I just decided to eat the right way for a long period, put myself in a longer camp but not over-train. I have a tendency to over-train and then go fight just to make the weight. But now, I'm eating right so I don't have to over-train my body."

His ulcers would come after his unanimous decision over Angel Manfredy last March. He would make his return against Dennis Pedersen in November, a fight where he started slow before he took over in the late rounds to win a 12-round verdict.

"There's no question there was rust," he admitted of his last performance. "I was off for seven, eight months but I'm not going to even blame that. I think the guy had the rhythm and threw me off. I couldn't find my rhythm 'till the later rounds. I give the guy all the props, he gave me a helluva fight and I'm just putting that on the back. I got the win and let's move on."

So now he looks ahead to the biggest and most lucrative fight of his career. The hard charging and aggressive Dorin would represent the biggest win on Spadafora's ledger should he come out victorious on Saturday night. So far, his biggest wins have come against the likes of Manfredy, Sosa, Pito Cardona and Billy Irwin -- respectable fighters, but none have ever won world titles. In fact, Spadafora, is one of the few world titlists who doesn't have a win over a former or current world champion on his record. Dorin would be his first.

For this bout he had an extended training camp that began in Los Angeles and included quality sparring partners like IBF jr. lightweight titlist Carlos Hernandez and Alfred Kotey.

His trainer Jessie Reid says that his charge is primed and ready to go. The days of fighting to make weight and ulcers are a thing of the past, according to Reid.

"I think he's learned a lesson on that," said Reid, who has worked with the likes of Roger Mayweather, Johnny Tapia and Orlando Canizales in the past. "In this fight here you're going to see it. He really dedicated himself to doing what was right in between fights and before. You know Paul likes to eat, he's just a big eater and he hangs around a lot of people who want to have parties and do different things and I think that hurt him in the long run. But this time he's really, really watched what he was doing and watched all his inches and he's already been at fighting weight for the last month."

Spadafora needs to be in prime condition because Dorin is as dogged as they come. While he'll be boxing as he usually does, Dorin will be right on his tail throughout.

"I think Dorin is a very busy fighter, not a big puncher but a guy that is just relentless, throws probably a 150 punches a round," said Reid, in describing their opponent. "And he's actually to me a small 130-pounder with strength. He's a strong kid but I think his better days have passed him by. I think he's at the point now where this is a very good fight for Paul and Paul at this condition should do very well."

Like Mayweather, Spadafora has sparred with Dorin in the past. Reid says of those sessions "He did very well with him. Dorin gave him very good work but Paul won every round."

But that's sparring. Who knows at what weight Spadafora was boxing at or what intensity level Dorin was at? But one thing that hasn't changed is that Spadafora still has a sizable advantage in height and natural size against the rather diminutive Dorin.

"That's a big advantage," agreed Reid, "the size difference and especially the way Paul made his weight this time. He actually took three months into training, he was training with me in California for six weeks and we worked a lot on just his weight alone and getting him ready to go to camp.

"Once we went to camp, we concentrated more on boxing with styles of people that could help Paul and he's really in tremendous shape for this bout."

PRETTY BAD REBATE

For his last bout against Victoriano Sosa, Floyd Mayweather made approximately $2.75 million. More than once source has told me that when his current HBO deal runs out in two fights that he can expect a significant reduction to those types of numbers in his next contract with HBO, which would make fights against guys like Spadafora easier to make since Mayweather's take would be much less on his end.