Boxing In Canada: Lucian Bute Wins IBF Title From Alejandro Berrio

The Montreal boxing fraternity celebrated at that city’s Bell Center last night after challenger Lucian Bute delivered another razor sharp performance to annex the IBF Super Middleweight title from Colombia’s Alejandro Berrio by eleventh round stoppage.

It was sheer punching power which had taken the 31 year old Berrio to the top of the heap and the Cartegena banger wasn’t about to switch styles during the first defense of the title he’d won this past March by stopping previously undefeated Robert Stieglitz in a rematch held in Germany.

But this fight was a different kettle of fish for Berrio as opponent Lucian Bute was fully prepared for everything the South American slugger would bring to the table.

Berrio stalked southpaw Bute in the early rounds and looked for openings for his big right hands but the Montreal based Romanian used good footwork, making the champion miss more often than not.

Berrio closed the distance as the rounds went on but this strategic achievement meant that Bute was in a better position to counter the advancing Colombian to good effect.

Berrio did get in some decent shots but Bute proved he had a good chin and handled his opponent’s vaunted power well.

Bute began to punish the champion with good two punch combos and sizzling straight left hands that beat Berrio’s increasingly desperate right hand bombs to the target.

By the later rounds, Berrio became frustrated and began to launch wide shots that had knockout written all over them but Bute handled the pressure well and picked the champion apart with counters.

In the eleventh, the accumulatory damage caused by Bute’s measured accuracy began to show on Berrio, who was first caught with a stunning, full blooded left and before being finished under a storm of leather from the challenger that forced referee Marlon Wright to call a halt to the action in the second half of the frame.

Lucian Bute picks up the IBF 168 lb title and runs his record to 21-0 (17) while Alejandro Berrio falls to 26-5 (25).

On the undercard, light welter Jo Jo Dann, 19-0 (12), finished off Paul Delgado, 19-8-1 (4), with a brutal body attack in the twelfth round to cage the vacant NABA belt.

Light heavy Carl Handy, 22-7-2 (15), finished off Eduardo Jesus Oscar Rojas, 10-12-7 (5), in the fourth.