PITTSBURGH -- There will be questions about the decision, but no one should ever question the heart of Paul Spadafora again.

The still-IBF lightweight titleholder finally silenced his critics by facing a tough challenger and putting on an entertaining show on HBO's Boxing After Dark, and he did just enough to retain it even though he had to settle for a draw against WBA titlist Leonard Dorin on Saturday night at Pittsburgh's Petersen Events Center by scores of 115-113, 113-115 and 114-114. Maxboxing scored it 114-114.

"I wanted to show people I got a lot more dimensions," said Spadafora. "I felt if I stayed on the inside I could cut him and stop the fight."

But it was the Romanian who drew first blood in the third round with a sweeping right hand against the southpaw. And he punctuated the exchange with another right. Though Spadafora nodded in denial about the effect, the trickle down his right eye suggested otherwise. Soon after, however, Dorin was on the receiving end of a two-punch combination that left him cut, too.

"He was nothing like when we fought for the Cardona fight," said Spadafora, alluding to when Dorin sparred with him leading up to his bout with Pito Cardona in 1999 when he won the IBF belt. "I was trying to counter him with a right hook."

He took the best Dorin had to offer, and when it looked like he might fold from the pressure, that he might cower from the cuts over and under his eyes, or when the 5-foot-9 hometown favorite was nailed with right-handed bombs on the outside from an opponent five inches shorter, he did not.

Instead, Spadafora regained the momentum just when it appeared he had lost it. He entered the ninth by catching Dorin backing out with a stiff straight left. He unleashed a three-punch combination and a right hook that scored and got under the same right hands that bedeviled him early on. It was a textbook display, and undoubtedly the best offensive and defensive round Spadafora had turned in all night.

In the 10th, a right hook stopped Dorin in his tracks, and they engaged in a few more hellacious exchanges before it was over. Dorin kept eating right hooks and was bleeding profusely from cuts on his left eye, and a new one under his right, before the 12th round ended.

"I tried to pay him back instantly," Spadafora said about the furious exchanges that often favored Dorin's aggressive style. "I could've boxed and made it easier on myself -- but I feel I'm better on the inside than the outside. If you look at all my better fights, against Cardona and Chucky T, they were on the inside."

Though some tried to raise a stink about the judges' scoring, that Dorin outlanded in total punches according to CompuBox (344-259), that he landed the harder punches and dictated the tempo, both camps quickly squashed the controversy. Dorin, who arrived late to the postfight conference because he required stitches to his facial lacerations, entered with a smile as the fighters embraced and shook hands on several occasions.

"I feel like I win," Dorin said. "But I respect the decision and that's it. I'm happy because all the people are happy. It doesn't matter. It was a great fight."

Too bad the locals didn't think it would be. Despite the prospect of a solid, partial unification matchup, only about 5,000 showed up at the 13,800-seat venue. The day before the fight, promoter Mike Acri said only 4,400 had been sold, a far cry from the 6,500 that turned out for Spadafora's bout with Angel Manfredy when at least a thousand had to be turned away.

Still, Acri is up for a rematch -- HBO vice president Xavier James said the network would be interested -- under the right circumstances. That would include more money, and an agreeable weight above 135 because this was supposed to be Spadafora's last fight at lightweight.

"I would hope the rematch would be at a heavier weight because it takes a lot out of Paul," Acri said. "He didn't seem to have the zip and the defense."

Said Al McCauley, Spadafora's manager: "We're going to fight Leonard Dorin the next fight. But we got to get the TV money. Would you rather see this fight again or Mayweather run around the ring?"

It seems to be the best and most lucrative option at the moment. A unification bout with lightweight champion Floyd Mayweather, whose positioning to fight the winner of a box-off between Stevie Johnston and Juan Lazcano, doesn't seem likely anyway.

"He has a contract with HBO that says he gets all the money," says Arci, noting that Dorin and Spadafora made more against each other (about $500,000 each) than they would fighting Mayweather ($150,000-$200,000). "That doesn't make any sense."

For Spadafora, it doesn't matter. He keeps saying he doesn't care what people think about him, but he fought the way he did to prove them wrong. He wants them to see he's a real fighter and not some cutie who's afraid to get his hands dirty.

"I finally let people know what I already knew," he said. "Because of what Leonard Dorin did for me tonight, I want to ask Mike (Acri) and Lou (DiBella) can we go over there where he's from to fight?"

Often, such gestures in boxing ring hollow. Not this one. It was as genuine as the effort that the two fighters gave in their pitched battle.

DiBella, who co-promoted the event with Acri, summed it up best: "Both of these champions are bigger than they were three hours ago."

We're just not sure which one's better.