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Following In The Footsteps Of Past Greats?
Lucian Bute knew exactly what he exactly what he had to do this previous Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Quebec.
He had seen his idol Lennox Lewis do it previously to Hasim Rahman, and he told the crowd afterward that that was the result he was looking to emulate all along.
Instead, his four round destruction of Librado Andrade more closely resembled Roy Jones Jr.’s own ‘revenge’ KO of Montell Griffin, both endings coming by way of highlight reel body punches that re-affirmed their standings at the top of the division.
It’s a punch that will likely be shown a thousand times for the duration of Bute’s career, but just the one punch (nor the short left hand that dropped Andrade earlier in the round) does not tell the whole story.
Controversy was at the center of their first meeting thirteen months ago in Montreal. While Bute cleverly boxed on the outside, peppered an always forward moving Andrade with flashy combinations, Andrade stayed the course.
Displaying a remarkable jaw, constant motor and iron will, Andrade eventually got to Bute, badly wobbling him. After being chased back and forth around the ring by Andrade, Bute finally succombed to a running right hand from Andrade that caught him on the ropes.
With what appeared to be some assistance from referee Marlon Wright, Bute was able to escape with a decision victory.
While his undefeated record stayed in tact, questions lingered around the questionable ending, leaving a sour taste even in the mouth of Bute himself. A rematch was in order but would not come to fruition until Andrade won an IBF title eliminator over Vitali Typsko.
Just as Lewis, Jones and more recently, Paul Williams, all found out, lingering questions and doubts that plague a fighter after a loss, or in Bute’s case, near loss, can be erased very quickly with an impressive rematch effort.
Impressive it was for Bute. The bout started out much the same way the first did, with Bute doing most of his work from the outside and in combination, with Andrade not getting a whole lot off in return.
Andrade seemed to have better success landing on Bute and even if he wasn’t winning rounds, he was setting himself up for perhaps an earlier climax, otherwise It was a fairly atypical start for a fight that’s drama figured to come in the later rounds.
That was upset by Bute in the fourth round, when he floored Andrade with a short left cross that the challenger never saw coming. The crowd and observers seemed more stunned then Andrade, who did not seem seriously hurt by the blow.
He would not be so lucky later in the round, when it was again a left hand he never saw coming that put him on the floor. Instead of directing the blow to Andrade’s ever exposed chin, Bute placed it perfectly under Andrade’s ribcage and that ended the bout for good.
Andrade got as far as his knees but his body simply froze during the whole length of the referee’s count.
It was as stunning a fourth round kayo as any, given Andrade’s ability to take flush shots with no visible damage being done.
In dispatching Andrade, Bute may have surpassed the feats of Lewis, Jones Jr. and Williams, as a stoppage victory just did not seem possible given the events of 12 months ago.
Now, Williams’ informal moniker of the ‘most avoided fighter in boxing’ may be passed along to Bute just by default. That’s because six of of the division’s elite are participating in Showtime’s innovative Super Six World Boxing Classic which, if all goes according to plan, the top fighters will not have their schedules clear until at least 2012.
With no top competitors available at his weight class, Bute finds himself in a most precarious position. A move in weight seems unlikely given the lack of starpower in the divisions north and south of him and Bute’s drawing power ranks among the best in boxing, meaning he doesn’t have to travel out of his own backyard for big money fights.
Born in Romania but raised in Montreal, Bute has only twice contested professional bouts outside of Quebec’s borders, both coming early in his career.
Only the Montreal Canadians hockey team have been able to detract from Bute’s gaudy live gate numbers; they played in Montreal on the same night as the Andrade rematch which forced the fight out of Montreal and into Quebec City.
Still, over 16,000 of the most vibrant and colorful fight fans in the world showed up to support their fighter. Already camera friendly and endearing to his adoring masses, Bute has been practicing English and promises to be fluent by his next fight, a move that has helped a whole range of fighters improve their crossover appeal, from Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera to Manny Pacquiao and the Klitschko brothers.
All this, coupled with the spectacular crowds and pleasing performances, add to Bute’s lure even if excluded from the Super Six Tournament.
Just two weeks before Bute stopped Andrade, undefeated American Andre Ward staked his claim to the top spot in the division, dismantling former #1 and previous tournament co-favorite Mikkel Kessler over 11 rounds in his hometown of Oakland, where he has his own local following.
Two weeks prior to that, Carl Froch won before his countryman in England, garnering a disputed decision over the previously undefeated and very fast Andre Dirrell, keeping his undefeated record in an ugly bout.
Arthur Abraham leads the pack in terms of the tournament’s points system, as he scored the only KO of the group stage, a crushing right hand that befell Jermain Taylor, a stoppage just 12 seconds before the fight’s scheduled end.
If any of those three, or even Kessler, Dirrell or Taylor, could manage to stay undefeated through the whole tournament, a fight with Bute could prove hugely lucrative.
All three have enormous local support, but perhaps none more so then Bute who seems to have captivated Montreal the way De La Hoya did southern California.
Until then, fights with other top ten ranked non-Super Six contenders should follow. Allan Green, Edison Miranda, Robert Stieglitz and even other area fighters like Jean Pascal (who’s currently a light heavyweight title holder) or Adonis Stevenson could make for good contests that would keep his ratings afloat as the other top contenders fight each other in the tournament.
Any of these match-ups (among others), especially in Quebec, would draw huge crowds and probably HBO, who earlier this year pegged Bute as one of boxing’s ‘rising stars’ and the only 168 pound boxer included in that group.
After twelve rounds with Librado Andrade, questions and uncertainties plagued Bute. After four more rounds, questions and uncertainties still hover over him but the nature of those questions have shifted and the question now is simple, now what?
It has been said that in order for a very good fighter to become great, he needs an equally good fighter in their own division to prove their worth against and cement yourself as great.
For whoever emerges out of the cloud of dust that the Super Six is sure to create, they will almost assuredly have a very good fighter waiting for them, in Bute, to test their worth.
