By Scott Gilfoid: The two-fight deal that Carl Froch and IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute may involve a condition having to be met before there’s a second fight between the two fighters. According to Dan Rafael, if the first ends by a lopsided decision or a knockout, then there might not be any second fight between Bute and Froch.

The first fight of the two fight deal will be held on April 14th in Montreal, Canada, which will be a home fight for Bute, even though he was born and raised in Romania. Bute now fights out of Canada and will have a huge crowd for this fight. The second fight takes place on August 4th in Nottingham, England, which is Froch’s home city and country.

Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn told Rafael at ESPN “At the end of the day, we need the second fight to be relevant and appealing. I’m very sure it will be.”

It might not necessarily be a competitive fight because Froch has looked awful when fighting guys with hand speed and power. Froch struggled against Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward in the Super Six tournament, winning the Dirrell fight on a questionable hometown decision in Nottingham and losing badly to Ward last month in the Super Six tournament finals. Froch was also beaten by Mikkel Kessler in the Super Six tournament.

Without the controversial decision that Froch won over Dirrell while fighting at home in Nottingham, Froch’s Super Six tournament record was a disappointing 2-3. That’s not very good, is it? So I can see Froch fighting Bute in April and losing badly enough to where there won’t be any need for a second fight.

I guess that’s good for Froch because it would be a disaster if Froch were to get dominated by Bute in the first fight and then still have to fight Bute a second time in front of a smaller crowd and then get beaten yet again. That would really hurt Froch’s career in a big way. That’s why it’s good that the two-fight deal will come with an escape clause so that Froch or Bute can get out of it if they’re wiped out in the first fight.