In praise of Lucian Bute

[CFH]

Let me start by saying that I do not like Bute very much and that I was cheering for Andrade in their fight.

I still do not understand why people say Andrade got robbed in the 12th round. Bute was knocked down, made it two his feet before the count of ten (a real count of ten, not Wrights slow-assed 15 count disguised as a 10 count). Whether or not he was able to continue following the knock down is immaterial. The IBF rules state that as soon as his gloves cleared the canvas, the fight was over.

Marlon Wright did a terrible job of reffing the fight, he let Bute get away will all kinds of ridiculous fouls all night long, and for that reason alone there needs to be a rematch in a neutral setting, but by the letter of the law Andrade was not robbed of a knock out in the last round.

Was he fit to continue? If yes, he wins. If no, he loses. IMO, he was on Queer Street big time and was not fit to continue. IMO, of course, becuase this is a very subjective call.

In my opinion, he was not fit to continue. However, this is given no consideration in the IBF's rules regarding a fighter who is knocked down in the last 10 seconds of a fight. The rules clearly state that as long as his gloves clear the canvas, the fight is considered over. Therefor, it does not matter if he was able to continue because there was no longer any fight in which he had to continue.