Boxing Ibf

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Paul Spadafora, a former IBF lightweight champion fighting for the first time in 14 months, knocked out Ivan Bustos on Wednesday night.

Bustos' corner threw in the towel 2 minutes, 26 seconds into the sixth round of the scheduled eight-round welterweight fight.

Paul Spadafora is sitting in a hotel room just outside of Pittsburgh, the city where he grew up, talking about coming back.

It seems that's all boxers do these days, is come back. Well, Spadafora is really coming back, he says for the last time. The former IBF lightweight champion will fight Wednesday night against Ivan Bustos in a junior welterweight bout in downtown Pittsburgh.

This is the beginning of a comeback for Spadafora, who at 33, needs this break. He got one years ago when he was this young undefeated fighter who beat veteran Israel Cardona on ESPN2 to win the IBF lightweight title. He's also fought on HBO and earned millions of dollars for hitting and moving and raising his arms in victory since winning the belt in 1999.

But over the last few years, Spadafora's life resembled an irritated engine.

There are reports across the globe that we have our first real heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis retired in 2003.

Wladimir Klitschko defeated some guy named Ruslan Chagaev Saturday in Germany to retain his IBF and WBO titles. Klitschko also won The Ring magazine belt for recognition as the best heavyweight in the game.

Big deal.

Wladimir Klitschko beat Ruslan Chagaev to win the heavyweight championship of the world in a dominant if slow-paced performance on Saturday before an estimated 60,000 fans at Veltins Arena in Germany.

Wladimir Klitschko and Ruslan Chagaev have agreed to fight on June 20 in Germany, and I suppose that's the best possible outcome after David Haye dropped out of the fight. But HBO has decided to pass on televising Klitschko vs. Chagaev, and that means that with just 12 days to go, we have no idea which American TV channel -- if any -- will be showing the fight.

Seven months ago, Chad Dawson beat Antonio Tarver by lopsided unanimous decision. On Saturday night in Las Vegas Tarver got his rematch, and Dawson whipped him again.

Following Chad Dawson's 12-round destruction of Antonio Tarver last October, there wasn't much interest in seeing a rematch. However, in the wacky world of professional boxing things like fan interest and common sense don't always come into play. Tarver excercised his rematch clause and there was nothing Dawson could do to avoid the fight.

Plus, Dawson, one of boxing's brightest young stars, will gladly remind you that he never ducks anyone.

FanHouse spoke to Dawson about being forced to fight Tarver again this Saturday night in his HBO debut and his thoughts on Bernard Hopkins' refusal to fight him. The interview is after the jump.

If you could only press the mute button, Ricky Hatton would be exactly what a boxing nation is looking for.

The 140-pound world champion is the sort of fighter who would come forward on anything smaller or slower than a moving freight train. Out of the ring, he exudes a charm that's equal parts blue collar and Pabst Blue Ribbon -- or the British equivalent -- and probably hasn't had to gone a night in the pub without someone buying him a pint since his grew taller than a bar stool.

There are giveaways, of course, like his pale skin that makes the Elgin marbles look like they're stored in a tanning both, and the baby blue Manchester City Football Club gear that he wears, suggests not so subtly that he isn't from around these parts.

But all in all, he's a pretty fair facsimile of what star looks like in the land of Rocky rather than royalty.

He is Ricky Hatton. American Idol.

At least, until he opens his mouth and his pronounced Mancunian accent pours a bottle of pain thinner all over that portrait.

Boxing has a hard time attracting new fans for many reasons. Two of the biggest are that no one can keep the weight classes straight and no one can keep the champions straight. Below is my attempt to fix that, listing the legitimate champions in each of the eight traditional weight classes.

Vic Darchinyan showed again that he's the best 115-pound boxer in the world Saturday night, pounding Jorge Arce for 11 rounds before the doctor mercifully brought the fight to a close prior to the 12th.

Darchinyan defended his WBC, WBA and IBF junior bantamweight titles, and although Ring Magazine doesn't recognize a true 115-pound champion, it should now: Darchinyan is the best in his weight class.