Currently, who is the most protected fighter (e.g. someone like Sven Ottke)?

[Kev]

Lucian bute.. He needs to be stripped. It's ludacrious.

I don't think you can call a fighter protected when he's faced Sakio Bika, Librado Andrade, and Glen Johnson. None of those guys are a walk in the park.

They are for a supposed top tier world champion! Andrade was an ok contender who had already had his ass handed to him by Kessler. Bika is another perrienal challenger, already beaten by Calzaghe, and has always lost when he's stepped up to the top level.

Johnson, he hasn't fought yet, but again he's a relatively low risk guy coming off a staggering 5 failed world title attempts in a row.

Considering Bute was the Ring champion at 168 before the Super Six got past the knockout stage his record looks about the same as Felix Sturm's.

Basically he's been fighting guys the other guys in the division have already beat up. You can add Miranda and Magee to that list too.

Now, the Super Six tying up many of he best opponents has clearly affected him, and it may be lack of options rather than being over protected, but his resume isn't great. It's about the same as Jeff Lacy's was prior to fighting Calzaghe.