Valencia man writes book on boxing champ Spadafora
VALENCIA — Nobody could blame former professional boxing champion Paul Spadafora if he considered the presence of Chris Scarnati to be bad karma.
Spadafora, considered one of the best boxers to ever come out of Pittsburgh, was 49-1-1 in his pro career. Scarnati attended his one loss and tie.
“Those were the only two Spadafora fights I ever attended live,” said Scarnati, a Valencia resident. “I never saw him win.”
But the two developed a good rapport nonetheless.
Scarnati, 45, recently completed a 233-page book on Spadafora’s life, entitled “Fighting Till The End.” A sixth-grade English teacher and acting principal at Sto-Rox, Scarnati spent two and a half years on the project. The book became available to the public last week.
Spadafora was the IBF lightweight champion when Scarnati attended his fight against WBA champion Leonard Dorin in Pittsburgh on May 17, 2003. The fight was intended to unify the two titles.
Instead, it turned into a draw and the fighters kept their respective titles.
“That fight was a bloody mess, a gore-fest,” Scarnati recalled. “I became enamored with Paul’s career. I continued to follow him.”
A Pittsburgh-area sports journalist before changing careers and becoming a teacher, Scarnati continued to do free-lance writing. He wrote a handful of lengthy features for Sports Illustrated and contacted the magazine about the possibility of writing a piece on Spadafora in 2013.
The boxer was in the middle of a comeback in the ring after serving prison time for shooting his girlfriend.
“The magazine said to go for it,” Scarnati said. “I contacted (trainer and Cranberry Township resident) Tommy Yankello, who I had gotten to know over the years, because I knew he was training Spadafora.
“Spadafora agreed to an interview, so we met up and talked for a few hours. I’ve interviewed thousands of athletes over the years — high school, college and pro — and he was the most candid and honest athlete I’ve ever talked to.”
Spadafora’s comeback was short-circuited a couple of times. He defeated Rob Franckel for the NABF super lightweight title and was promised a bout against Floyd Mayweather. The latter was preparing for a fight with Manny Pacquiao and was looking for a good tune-up fight. Spadafora and Pacquiao use similar styles in the ring.
“Paul didn’t mind it being called a ‘tune-up fight’ because he knew what fighting Mayweather would do for him,” Scarnati said. “But Mayweather wound up getting a title fight, the bout with Spadafora fell through and Paul thought that was it for him.
“He purposely overdosed on drugs. He wanted to die. Then he came back from that. He’s been sober and clean for the last six months. He said that’s the longest period of time he’s been sober or off drugs since he was a teenager.”
Scarnati attended Spadafora’s fight with Johan Perez at The Harv in West Virginia in November of 2013. He was 48-0-1 and a win there would have tied Rocky Marciano’s pro boxing record of 49 wins without a loss.
Spadafora lost by split decision, had one more pro fight and his career was over.
“His life is such a tremendous story,” Scarnati said. “I’d always wanted to write a book and asked Yankello if Paul would be interested in doing his autobiography with me. He was interested and the process began.”
Scarnati’s first interview with Spadafora was in 2020. Spadafora went into rehab twice during the compilation of information for the book. He and Scarnati had three to four-hour sittings for interviews. Scarnati also interviewed friends, family, trainers and others in the boxing industry.
“Paul’s boxing career was built to win 12-round marathons. He only had 19 knockouts. But he was such a great defensive fighter. He was almost un-hittable, the angles he took in the ring,” Scarnati said.
Spadafora, 49, now lives in Las Vegas and is training fighters. His son, Geno, 19, is training to be a professional boxer.
“He’s entering the final rounds of his life — and I think he’s gonna win,” Scarnati said.
The foreword in the book is written by Yankello and former world boxing champion Roy Jones Jr.
The book was produced by Creative Text, Daniel Edwards, publisher. It is available at amazon.com and soon through Barnes & Noble.
