Boxing Perspective: Lucian Bute

Is the Super Six Tournament Lucian Bute’s blueprint to the super middleweight throne?

It is good to be a super middleweight these days. The division while having some great fighters throughout its years such as James Toney, Roy Jones Jr, Michael Nunn, Joe Calzaghe, Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn, for some reason has failed to keep up momentum like the welterweight, middleweight or even light heavyweight divisions.

Reasons such as not enough elite fighters campaigning at once, fighters at the tail end of their careers, hopefuls that never panned out or ones that even after becoming title holders remained fairly obscure to the mainstream media of the sport have all at one time or another helped hinder the division from being “The” place to be, even if for a short period of time.

Even when big name fights such as Jones vs. Toney or Eubank vs. Benn did take place nothing followed up to keep the public’s interest peaked.

When Joe Calzaghe, who will probably go down as the best 168lb fighter in history due to his longevity and dominance as champion, took leave in 2008 in search of Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr at light heavyweight, many thought the weight class would once again fall into obscurity, putting the divisions top spot into the hands of long thought of number two man Mikkel Kessler.

While Kessler failed to pick up the momentum, Calzaghe had built himself and went about his business fighting second tier opponents forced upon him by the WBA, severe critics began to believe the division would once again fall into disarray and turn into an open season for the top spot with no one really good enough to truly claim what Joe had left behind or worse yet top fighters of the division would begin to abandon the weight class all together looking for broader horizons.

Lucky for us those assumptions could not have been any more wrong.

Quietly, even when Calzaghe reigned as the weight class’ flagship, there were fighters starting to build their rightful place among the best in not only the super middleweight division but in all of boxing.

Carl Froch began to make his mark in the UK as a legit hopeful winning the WBC title shortly after Calzaghe departed, Lucian Bute claimed the IBF title in 2007 and while he was not media flashy made impressive defenses at home in Canada, former Middleweight Champion Jermain Taylor moved in after losing his championship to Kelly Pavlik and needing greener pastures, IBF middleweight title holder Arthur Abraham left his belt behind to move up a division, former Olympians Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell were showing their true potential proving they were not going to be also rans.

Top ten contenders Allen Green, Edison Miranda, Librado Andrade and Fulgencio Zuniga remained legit threats to everyone and anyone, suddenly there was more talent in the division then we could have hoped for.

Showtime acknowledged this perhaps before anyone forming the “Super Six” tournament, taking six of the best fighters at 168lbs, Carl Froch, Jermain Taylor (now replaced by Allan Green after Taylor pulled out for health reasons), Arthur Abraham, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell, and then setting up their schedules to make sure each man had the opportunity to face the next.

The fighters are given points based on how they win, 2 points for a KO and 1 point for a decision, after everyman has faced the other tournament participants, they move on to the next round based on the points amassed. Those with the lowest points are eliminated the rest move on until there are only 2 men left to meet in the finals.

Every man has the opportunity to face the next leaving out unfair match making, also it allows them to make up for a loss if they do suffer one. A brilliant idea on the part of the Showtime network, as it leaves no error on which the best fighter of the lot really is.

One name left out of the tournament was Lucian Bute, due to his contractual obligation with Librado Andrade. The two men had met in 2008 but the fight ended with controversy after referee Marlon Wright made an unusual count when he admonished Andrade for not being in his neutral corner after knocking Bute down in round 12, what truly made this situation a travesty was the fact Andrade had already been in his directed corner when Wright decided to assert his authority. Bute, who recognized the wrong, agreed to give Andrade a rematch and the contract had already been signed when Showtime proposed the Super 6.

The Romanian born fighter who now resides in Canada decided to go about his own business since being unable to compete as a part of the Super Six faction, winning a 4th round knockout in his rematch with Andrade then repeating his actions a round earlier when he defended his belt against hard hitting knockout artist Edison Miranda on April 17th.

While Bute has to wait to see who comes out on top and fight them to declare who the best super middleweight is that wait may benefit the division just as much as the tournament itself.

First before anything can be assumed, Bute must continue to make title defenses and not just lay around in waiting, he made easy work of his last two opponents so only a short rest should be needed. This is important because he must remain active to keep himself sharp and he must remain in the public’s eye to help build anticipation for a showdown with the Super Six winner.

Secondly and perhaps most importantly, Bute must keep a keen eye on every fight in the tournament and each man will face the other at one point in time before it is through and each man has his own style, we have punchers like Abraham, Froch and Green, speed fighters who use it as their primary defense like Dirrell, then well rounded guys like Kessler and Ward who have a bit of everything but nothing is done overly well.

The tournament allows Bute to see how each man handles certain styles went presented to them and allows him to see the weaknesses of each man when presented with conflicting styles. In short this tournament is giving Bute the blueprints to each fighter’s strengths and weaknesses.

Perhaps the biggest benefit in this for Bute is the fact with every fight that passes in the Super Six his stock rises! After all is said and done the winner may be the able to claim he is the best of the lot but without fighting Bute they can not claim they are the best in the division.

This has become not only beneficial for Lucian Bute but for boxing fans as well, we witness not only the division’s best but some of the sports best fighters period battle it out to see who is superior among them while an undefeated champion steps up to the plate between the tournament lulls to provides us anticipation for what we may see in the future when he meets the Super Six winner.

Quality boxing, quality fighters, the intrigue of who will battle it out for the undisputed Super Middleweight Championship in the end. What more could we really ask for?