Bute vs. Andrade: Can Librado win in Canada?

By Jim Dower: Super middleweight contender Librado Andrade (28-2, 21 KO’s) appeared to stop International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (24-0, 19 KO’s) in the 12th round of their bout last year in October 2008, after knocking Bute to the canvas in the final round of their controversial fight at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada.

However, the Canadian referee, instead of focusing on giving the count to Bute while he was down and badly hurt on the canvas, put his attention on Andrade. Twice referee Marlon Wright turned and looked at Andrade, getting up at one time to walk towards him and warn him to move into the neutral corner.

From a boxing fans’ perspective, it appeared that Wright was trying to give more time to the Canadian based champion Bute to recover and get up off the canvas. Of course, no one will ever know for sure, but never the less, the extra time that was given to Bute to recover was enough for him to make it to his feet before the count of 10. However, instead of standing straight up, the badly hurt Bute needed to lean against the ropes in order to stay upright. Many boxing referees would have either stopped the fight at that point or asked Bute to walk towards them to see if he was in condition to walk.

This wasn’t done, however, and the fight clock ran out giving Bute the victory based on his domination of Andrade in the earlier rounds of the fight. Bute fought really well in the first 10 rounds, landing nice shots and getting away before Andrade could land his own. Andrade applied a great deal of constant pressure on Bute, but it wasn’t effective pressure because Bute was able to move away and avoid taking shots.

However, the constant pressure had a slight withering effect on Bute, as by the 11th round he began to take punishment all of a sudden. Andrade hurt Bute in the 11th round with a big left hand to the head and looked to be in the process of putting the finishing touches on getting him out of there when the referee stepped in and seemed to get in the way of Andrade while he was trying to land his power shots in the remaining seconds of the round. I

With the controversy that surrounded the fight, there was a huge cry for an immediate rematch. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and Andrade, now 31, was forced to fight a title eliminator match against Vitali Tsypko in April, a bout which Andrade easily won by a lopsided 12 round decision. Bute defended his title again, this time having an easy time against a badly over-matched Fulgencio Zuniga, stopping him in the 4th round in March.

Now, more than a year later since Andrade lost the controversial decision to Bute, the two will square off again. The bout will be fought at the Pepsi Coliseum, in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, Bute, 29, will once again have the home country advantage in some respects. Andrade is now fighting out of Canada himself and seems to have been adopted by many of the fans there, although probably not to the extent that Bute has.

Andrade will once again be trying to wear Bute out with heavy pressure. I don’t know that it will work, because Bute seemed to be going well until the last two rounds of the fight last time. If Andrade loses most of the earlier rounds of the fight, he’ll be in another situation where he’ll have to score a knockout to win.

Prediction: Bute by 12 round decision.

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