Quote Originally Posted by Rantcatrat View Post
If Bute wins, which is no foregone conclusion, given that Ward's best wins are over Froch and Kessler, and Kessler has left the division, can Bute do anything to claim #1 in the division, other than fight Ward? Does Bute climb into the bottom half of the top ten p4p rankings with a win? Assuming again that Bute wins, Ward is in there facing the same level of competition, other than Kessler.
I think he pretty much has to beat Ward to claim #1 in the division.

The only other way it could happen would be if he went on a tear and beat everyone else in the division in a totally dominant fashion while Ward sat on the sidelines and didn't fight. I don't see that happening. Maybe (and this is debatable) going up for a one-off against the winner of Hopkins/Dawson and winning that would do it too.

But there's absolutely no reason that Ward-Bute shouldn't happen if Bute wins, so hopefully this is all academic. (Not that "necessary" fights aren't prevented from happening for BS reasons all the time.)