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Former IBF lightweight world champion Paul Spadafora is hospitalized in Las Vegas after being attacked by his dog, his wife confirmed to TribLive.
Nadine (Russo) Spadafora said the McKees Rocks-based boxer severed an artery in his left arm when his pit bull bit him Sunday night, which required a two-hour surgery to repair by using an artery from his left leg.
She confirmed that Spadafora, 49, was on a ventilator while sedated and said he was conscious and alert. The ventilator was removed Wednesday afternoon once he showed the ability to breathe without any assistance.
He is in stable condition in the ICU at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.
“They said he’s going to make a full recovery,” Nadine Spadafora said in a phone interview. “His breaths are real weak. Every time he wakes up, I try to calm him down. He’s mad at me because I’m not pulling the tube out for him.”
Spadafora won the vacant IBF lightweight title in a unanimous decision over Israel “Pito” Cardona in August 1999, becoming the first Western Pennsylvania-based world champion in a half century. He was nicknamed the “Pittsburgh Kid” in a nod to Billy Conn.
Spadafora made eight successful title defenses, ending his title reign after fighting Leonard Dorin to a draw in May 2003 and relinquishing his title to move up from the 135-pound weight class.
That proved to be the start of Spadafora’s run-ins with the law, as he was arrested twice for alcohol-related incidents before being charged with shooting Nadine, his then-girlfriend and now wife, in October 2003. Spadafora pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, a second-degree felony, and spent seven months in prison and six months in a boot camp.
Spadafora has had multiple other arrests, mostly involving alcohol and drugs. He moved to Las Vegas in 2022, married Russo and became sober. He was training fighters before the incident involving his dog.
“It’s just him versus him right now,” Nadine Spadafora said. “He has to let himself heal and recover. He has a lot of kids that he’s training right now. He’s doing really good. People are learning from him and like training with him. The hardest thing for Paul is to sit still for six weeks.”
Spadafora’s former trainer, Tom Yankello of the World Class Boxing Gym in Ambridge, believes Spadafora will once again show his resilience in recovery.
“I just hope that he’s going to be OK,” Yankello told TribLive. “He’s going to be the Comeback Kid, like he always is.”
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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