He left HBO to sign with Showtime though. That means to me that he wants to face a step up in competition. Brain Magee certainly isn't it, but that fight is occuring in March, around the time that Froch and Ward face Johnson and AA. It would make sense, barring injuries in the fights, for Bute to face one of the losers of the Froch and Ward matches. The problem is that if AA is destroyed by Ward, which we agree in all likelihood will happen, I bet he drops down to 160 or takes a break from boxing for a while, and if Froch beats Johnson, which is also more likely than not, I doubt Bute would face Johnson because of their friendship.
Froch has faced better competition than Bute hands down. Actually, Froch has faced better competition than any boxer at 168 including Ward. And really if you think about it, Froch has faced better competition than most boxers out there in his last five fights, save maybe, Sergio Martinez and other top p4p boxers.
Ward's last 5:
Bika
Green
Kessler
Pudwill
Miranda
Bute and Ward have comparable cv's. Ward's best win is better than Bute's best win, but Bute's wins overall are on par, if not better, than Ward's.
As you all know, I'm a Bute fan, and I believe he poses stylistic problems for Froch. I've also become a Froch fan. Froch had problems with Dirrell who moved and was faster than him and he had problems with Taylor because he was faster than him. Bute will be faster than him too and more accurate than both Taylor and Dirrell. But, Froch is a tough cookie, I wouldn't count him out of this fight, and Froch fights all twelve rounds, Bute has shown in the past, some weakness in stamina. The final rounds could be very interesting. In fact, I think the fight is a close match, which is why I would love to see it.
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