Observant students of the super middleweight division might be forgiven for disdaining the name “Lucian Bute.” After all, it wasn’t that long ago that Bute had cleverly maneuvered himself into a position whereby he could sit out of the Super Six tournament, feast on the bottom-tier and fringe contenders left in the wake of that tournament, and then challenge the winner from a well-tuned and well-rested position. Make no mistake: the Super Six proved to be an all-golden proposition for Bute, and he didn’t even fight in it!
Yet now the talk about Bute’s next opponent is all about whether it will be Super Six runner-up Carl Froch or Super Six drop-out Andre Dirrell. What happened to the big showdown between top dog Andre Ward and the only man of merit left in the division he hasn’t fought, Lucian Bute?
Some readers may recall that I am no fan of Lucian Bute, but in this instance, fairness demands I point out that Lucian Bute is blameless. He isn’t ducking Andre Ward. Virgil Hunter, Ward’s trainer, confirmed that the Ward camp told Showtime and Bute they wanted Bute to have a fight with another Super Six fighter before he gets to Ward. Although Ward emerged from the Super Six tournament without having fought any debilitating wars (unlike, say, Carl Froch), he is recovering from a broken hand, and has the very reasonable desire for a break.
Ward wants to postpone a fight with Bute, but how does Bute feel about fighting Ward? Le Tombeur talks like he wants the Andre Ward fight, but many remain skeptical. Carl Froch is the most prominent skeptic, who said in a televised interview just before Christmas that Bute had no interest in fighting Ward. Lucian Bute is the guy who took the path of least resistance to the top, so the idea that he might be privately dubious about fighting the division’s clear top dog is understandable.
Lucian Bute has only one fight remaining on his contract with Showtime. If he fights Andre Dirrell or Carl Froch and wins, it would be entirely in keeping with Bute’s track record for him to jump ship back to HBO for a lucrative three- or four-fight deal. Under those circumstances, Ward vs. Bute would never happen.
My advice to super middleweight boxing fans is as follows: give Bute the benefit of the doubt as far as an April clash with Froch or Dirrell goes. Either match-up is a solid one, and will tell us all sorts of things about Le Tombeur. After that, watch Bute’s negotiations with Showtime very carefully, because at that point no foreseeable obstacles should stand in the way of Ward vs. Bute for the latter half of 2012.
