Froch Could Be Fighting Bute or Hopkins Next – Boxing

By Sean McDaniel: World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight champion Carl Froch (25-0, 20 KO’s) could be fighting either the great Bernard Hopkins or IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute in September, according to the latest boxing news from the BBC.

A fight with the Canadian based Bute would be a unification bout that would likely take place in England, due to the better chances of the fight making more money over there compared to in Canada where Bute now fights.

Right now, Froch, 31, is leaning in the direction of fighting Bute, although Froch would probably get much more attention if were to fight the 44-year-old Hopkins instead. A fight against Hopkins would be in the United States and would likely be a PPV bout that a great deal of boxing fans would see.

In contrast, Bute, a lesser known fighter in terms of media appeal in the U.S., would be a fight that mostly hardcore boxing fans would be interested in seeing. Bute is a great fighter, one of the best in the super middleweight division, but he’s not in the league of Hopkins as far as popularity goes.

Right now, Froch is coming off an impressive come from behind 12th round knockout over Jermain Taylor in April 2009. The bout has made Froch quite popular in the U.S. However, with a sudden surge of new talent in the super middleweight division with younger fighters like Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward moving up quickly, it would seem that Froch doesn’t have more than one fight before he’ll be forced to fight one of them in a title defense.

Many boxing fans doubt that Froch would be able to beat either Dirrell or Ward, as both of them are much faster and seemingly more skilled than Froch. It’s for this reason that Froch needs to go after the bout that will give him the most attention that he can get.

While I think Froch might get a little bit more money in fighting Bute, Froch might be better off taking a little less money for the prestige of fighting Hopkins. At least if Froch gets outclassed by Hopkins, it will be a fighter that the boxing public knows about and has a lot of respect for. Bute’s a great fighter but, like I said, he’s not nearly as well known as Hopkins.

Taking a beating by Hopkins is nothing to be ashamed of because of his great talent, and I think Froch’s boxing career wouldn’t take nearly as such a big hit as it would if Bute schools him. Bute has a tricky style of fighting that is all wrong for a slow brawler like Froch.

Bute likes to hit and run and is very difficult to be pinned down. It takes a very aggressive opponent with a great chin to wear him down. Librado Andrade was able to almost take Bute out in the 12th round last year, but he came up short in the famous long count fight in Canada.

Andrade knocked Bute down in the 12th and had him pretty much knocked out but the referee turned his attention to Andrade instead of administering the count to Bute, telling Andrade to go the neutral corner before starting the count, and then turning his head back to look at Andrade to give him another warning.

I doubt Froch would be able to take the kind of punishment that Andrade took in the fight to get to the point where Bute would wear down. This is why it would seem like a smarter thing for Froch to do would be to fight Hopkins instead. I think Froch will be destroyed, but at least it’s too a popular fighter.

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