By William Mackay: Earlier tonight WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s) shocked boxing fans by saying that IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (29-0, 24 KO’s) would have to earn a shot against him by beating an A level fighter first. Ward won’t be taking on Bute next despite this being the fight that boxing fans wanted him to take.

Bute said before the Ward vs. Carl Froch fight tonight that he wanted to face the winner of the Froch-Ward fight. If Bute couldn’t get the winner of the fight, he said he’d settle for facing the loser. That’s where Carl Froch comes in. He lost to Ward tonight by a 12 round unanimous decision and needs a big fight right now to get a title and use that belt as leverage to get another fight against Ward.

Since Ward is saying that Bute needs to beat an A level fighter before he’ll fight him, then it serves Bute’s purpose to fight Froch now. Bute can show how much better he is than Ward by beating Froch is possible. It’s a fight that serves both Froch and Bute for what they’re looking for. However, it might be a risky fight that Froch and his management might not want to take at this time, as he was pretty well served up by Ward tonight.

Froch said it himself that he needs to work on some technical aspects of his game. He’s 34, and he can’t afford to sit around tinkering with his style without taking on the top fighters. He might be better off jumping right into the Bute fight. After all, Froch was saying before the fight that Bute wasn’t on his level. This is his chance to prove it in the ring.