My friend Johnnie Whitehead of USA Today and Maxboxing.com writes this week on this very boxing page that Paul Spadafora silenced his critics with his performance against Leonard Dorin this last Saturday night. Johnnie writes "...no one should ever question the heart of Paul Spadafora again." I have heard this sentiment echoed by more than a few boxing people over the last couple of days - that now, after the Dorin fight, no one should question Spadafora's heart. What I would like to know is who are these people who had questions about Spadafora before the Dorin fight?

I questioned Spadafora - the pride of Pittsburgh - early in his career, before he had ever fought top-flight world-class opposition. Even earlier than that I marked him as a fighter to watch, but after he struggled against lower-echelon top-20 type Rocky Martinez, I wondered aloud on Friday Night Fights whether Spaddy would ever be able to compete against the lightweight division's elite.

When Shane Mosley jumped from lightweight to welter in 1999 in order to eventually challenge Oscar De La Hoya, he had to vacate the alphabet soup title he held at 135. A fight was set up between Spadafora and Israel "Pito" Cardona to fill the vacancy. Cardona had knocked out Ivan Robinson the year before Robinson beat Arturo Gatti for the first time. Considering Spadafora's struggle against Martinez, and Cardona's savage punching power, it appeared that Spadafora was in over his head.

After "The New Pittsburgh Kid" (the old one was light heavyweight champ Billy Conn) pitched a masterful 12-round shutout of Cardona, many of us were singing a different tune. Spadafora put on a slick-southpaw hit-and-don't-get-hit boxing clinic. He did not hit and run, he did not continually clinch. He stood in the middle of the ring in the best tradition of Pernell Whitaker, and made Cardona miss and pay.

The Cardona fight provided answers about Spadafora's skill level, but it also left several questions unanswered. It was plain for all to see by this point that Spaddy had world-class skills, but it was equally obvious that his natural, physical talent was not top of the line. Spaddy did not posses top-flight speed of either hand or foot. He also could not punch with any power at all. But did he at least have enough natural physical talent to allow his skill to enable him to compete against the very tippy-top of the division? And since he was clearly not the fastest or biggest-punching guy in the world, did he have the intangible qualities to go with his skills? Did he have the heart to keep fighting those fast enough to hit him? Could he take a punch well enough so that if reached by a puncher he could survive? Did he have the will to win in case his chin failed him and he had to climb off the canvas in a tough battle?

Spadafora answered all of these questions in the two defining fights of his lightweight career thus far, and neither of those fights came against Leonard Dorin. Victoriano Sosa, a solid but unheralded rising contender consistently beat Spadafora to the punch, had him on the deck twice early in their fight, and looked on the verge of a knockout win. But a badly hurt Spadafora somehow survived and then clawed his way back on the scorecards with an incredible display of heart and guile. After 12 rounds Spadafora won a razor-close decision. He had the inner stuff to go with the skill. Still, would it be enough against the elite?

Angel Manfredy was and is the lightweight division's gate-keeper. Only the elite beat him. This is bad news for the "B" and "B+" fighters of the world, like Ivan Robinson and Arturo Gatti. Robinson and Gatti were good and exciting fighters but not quite elite. They were therefore unable to get past Manfredy, who handed them both brutal losses. But, for the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Diego Corrales and Stevie Johnston, Manfredy serves an important function: beating him proves that they are the "A" fighters, the top of the lightweight and Jr. lightweight divisions.

Spadafora and Manfredy engaged in a good, competitive fight that Spadafora won. He beat Manfredy and proved he belonged. His talent was just good enough for his skills to do their job even on a top-flight fighter.

I called Spadafora's fight against Joel Perez in Pittsburgh about a year before Spadafora beat Manfredy. In boxing parlance Perez could "handle himself," though he was far from a top-shelf lightweight. I conducted a taped interview with Spadafora in which we discussed his career plans. At the time it seemed that his promoter Mike Acri was matching his Pittsburgh meal-ticket soft. Often a promoter's reluctance to put his fighter in against tough opposition betrays the promoter's lack of confidence in his fighter. I brought this point up in my conversation with Spadafora, who is a boxing purist and fan, with a genuine respect for boxing history and a deep concern for his own place in it. He responded by saying that more than anything he wanted to fight the top fighters in the world to prove that he belonged with the best of his era. His sincerity was obvious and his emotion real.

Spadafora was real against Dorin this last Saturday night. But we already knew he was real. He came back from the brink of defeat against Sosa and beat Manfredy fair and square. Those who had questions about Spadafora's heart before the Dorin fight have not been paying attention. Spadafora simply once again demonstrated that he is among the best lightweights in the world. He once more did himself proud in a moment of truth. With Spadafora's track record, no one should have expected anything less.

Max Kellerman is a studio analyst for ESPN2's Friday Night Fights and the host of the show Around The Horn.