By Scott Gilfoid: If IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (30-0, 24 KO’s) wants to earn a shot against WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward then he’s going to have to come out of the safety of Canada to take on Andre Dirrell, the fighter that SHOWTIME wants him to fight.

There’s talk that Dirrell wants Bute to fight in the United States in Detroit, Michigan. That’s not a bad place but it might be better if they can put the fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. At least Dirrell wouldn’t have to worry about finding himself on the receiving end of a hometown decision.

What Bute is going to quickly find out that the top fighters like Dirrell want nothing to do with coming to Canada to fight Bute over there because of a lot of visiting fighters losing fights that they appeared to win.

Bute needs a big win over an ‘A’ level fighter and Ward has already told him that Dirrell is a key fighter that he needs to face and beat if he wants a chance at his two titles. Bute can’t keep fighting the low quality super middleweights he’s been fighting his entire career.

He’s got to step up and finally prove himself as a world class fighter and not a cherry picker that fights only in Canada where he’s impossible to beat no matter what happens. Look at Bute’s first fight with Librado Andrade to see what I’m talking about.

Carl Froch is no longer available for Bute, as he wants to squeeze in a payday bout in Nottingham, England in May and he’s not so sure about whether he’ll take on Bute after that because he’ll then have the tasty option of taking on the winner of the Mikkel Kessler vs. Robert Stieglitz. That’s clearly a better fight because Froch can probably get that fight in a neutral venue and if now, he won’t have to worry too much about the judges in Denmark.