By Scott Gilfoid: After last nights win over Glen Johnson, IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute was asked by Showtime who he thought would win the December 17th fight between WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (28-1, 20 KO’s) and WBA super middleweight belt holder Andre Ward. Without batting an eye, Bute said “I think Andre Ward will win.”

Not only is Bute a great fighter, but he’s also quite smart. Ward will win that fight and with ease. Bute says he’ll be sitting at ringside for the fight at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

This will allow Bute to see up close and personal Ward’s mastery of Froch. It won’t help Bute any, but it will help hype the eventual Ward vs. Bute fight for 2012.

Froch is over his head in this fight. He doesn’t have the hand speed, the talent or the boxing ability to contend with Ward. Froch was pretty well exposed in his fights against Andre Dirrell and Mikkel Kessler in the Super Six tourney.

Froch should have had two losses in those fights instead of just one, because the Dirrell fight ended up being a gift for Froch while fighting at home in Nottingham, England. Froch has won his last two fights against limited fighters Arthur Abraham and Glen Johnson. Those wins have given Froch a false sense of security as he approaches the Ward fight. Rather than putting the wins in perspective, Froch thinks he can continue to fight like that against the much faster and skilled Ward. That’s not going to happen. There are levels in boxing and Froch has done well lately fighting at a lower level. But on December 17th, Froch is going to get slapped back down and put in his rightful place by Ward. Froch will know his limitations after the Ward fight. He doesn’t know them now, but he soon will.