Froch to fight in November in UK, then face Bute in March 2013 in rematch

By Boxing News - 07/05/2012 - Comments

Image: Froch to fight in November in UK, then face Bute in March 2013 in rematchBy Scott Gilfoid: IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (29-2, 21 KO’s) will be fighting former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (31-1, 24 KO’s) in a rematch in March 2013 in Canada as part of the rematch clause the two fighters have in their contract, according to fightnews.com. Before that, Froch will fight in November in the UK against possibly Mikkel Kessler.

Bute said “That was not the real Lucian Bute in that Nottingham ring on May 26. I spent the last few weeks reflecting on what went wrong, what happened…I want the rematch with Carl Froch as soon as possible.”

I agree with Bute. It wasn’t him at his best, because he made some tactical blunders by trying to slug with Froch, and then fighting off the ropes. That was dumb of him. But Bute won’t do that in the rematch. He’ll go back to his old hit and run style that he used for most of his career, and which is pretty much an unbeatable style especially against slow plodders like Froch.

Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants Froch to fight in November and wants Bute to take a tune-up fight as well. He sees those fights as making the Froch-Bute II fight much bigger. I would agree with Hearn if not for the fact that they’re trying to hook him up with a rematch against Kessler. In that case, I think it’s a real, real bad idea for Froch to be fighting a tune-up bout. Kessler already beat Froch once and he’s got his number. He knows how to fight him by boxing and moving, and he’ll whip him again. You can forget all about a Froch-Bute II fight once Froch loses to Kessler.

My advice is for Froch to take it easy in November and face one of his domestic fighters like George Groves, James DeGale, Tony Bellew or Nathan Cleverly in stay busy fights. At least Froch won’t have any risk involved if he faces one of those guys, and he can come into the Bute rematch well rested. Froch doesn’t need the Kessler fight right now. He can always take that after the Bute fight. Why risk losing the Bute fight by facing Kessler when you can fight Kessler later?



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