Bring the punch, hold the pasta

Dean Juipe

Thursday, March 13, 2003 | 9:14 a.m.

Only 350 people will see the fight live and it won't be televised in America, yet the stakes are considerable as Cory Spinks gets a second shot at Michele Piccirillo and the International Boxing Federation welterweight championship.

Spinks and Piccirillo will be rematched in the unusual setting of a dinner club in Campione D'Italia, Italy, March 22. At the same site on April 13 of last year, Piccirillo escaped with a decision victory that was suspect in many eyes.

Piccirillo was "lucky" according to the on-site reporter for Boxing Update, as he won by 5, 3 and 3 points on the judges' cards in a bout in which the referee also took a point from Spinks and warned him several other times for real or imagined transgressions.

"It was bogus," said Spinks' manager, Kevin Cunningham. "It was as if Cory either had to knock the other guy out or he had no chance."

With the IBF in agreement, the two will fight again for a belt that could lead to a bigger fight with World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association champ Ricardo Mayorga.

"You always have to worry (about going overseas), but I think I'll have a better chance this time," Spinks said this week as he worked out at Johnny Tocco's Gym. "Sometimes things don't go your way, and sometimes that makes you want it a little bit more."

Spinks, 24, is 30-2 with 10 knockouts. If the St. Louis native were to win the IBF championship, he would join his father (Leon) and uncle (Michael) in a rare tandem of three champions from a single family.

Piccirillo, 33, is 37-1 with 23 KOs and undefeated in his home country. His only loss was to Soren Sondergaard seven years ago in Denmark.

Before defeating Spinks, Piccirillo's best win came against Rafael Pineda two years ago in New York.

"We learned a couple of things from the first fight, and if I go over there and do what I plan to do I'll come back with the IBF title," Spinks said. "The important thing is that I need to set the pace."

Both Cunningham and trainer Kenny Adams agree.

"We want Cory to be a dirty, mean dog," Cunningham said. "We know what we're up against and he has to be extremely aggressive -- as aggressive as he has ever been in his life."

Adams sees it the same way.

"No more Mr. Nice Guy," he said of the attitude he wants to see from Spinks. "Cory has great boxing skills but we've got to make him meaner. That's what it's going to take to win."

Adams wasn't working for Spinks a year ago, but he has seen a tape of the fight with Piccirillo.

"I thought Cory won," he said. "He had Piccirillo wobbled three or four times, but he also didn't overwhelm the judges enough. This time he has to step up and take it to him."

Leveling the playing field has been important to Spinks' camp, and they feel they've done that through promoter Don King.

"Bob Arum promoted the first fight and he didn't care if Cory won or not," Cunningham said. "This time it'll be different just because of Don King. He's assured us we won't run into the same (biased) circumstances that we did the first time.

"We're not asking for anybody to give us anything, just to be treated fairly."

The rematch went to Italy for economic reasons and each fighter will receive a purse similar to their first fight when both were paid $79,000. As was the case last April, they'll be fighting in front of a small crowd in formal dress that gets dinner as part of the ticket.

Of course Spinks could make the task easier on himself by knocking out Piccirillo, but power has never been his forte.

"Punchers are born and not made," Cunningham said. "Speed and quickness are Cory's strong suits, but we're also working on leverage and those kinds of things."

Spinks believes he's sufficiently strong in spite of his meager knockout record.

"I think my power's pretty cool," he said. "Sometimes it's what you don't see that knocks you out."