By Scott Gilfoid: Lucian Bute (31-1, 24 KO’s) is very pleased with his efforts last night in getting back on the winning track in defeating Denis Grachev (12-1-1, 8 KO’s) in Montreal, Canada in front of a packed Bell Centre. It was a gutsy performance from the 32-year-old Bute, who showed excellent counter punching ability, pinpoint accuracy with his shots and superb hand speed in beating the powerful Russian.

After the fight, Bute said to gsp.ro “Grachev was a tough opponent. He put a lot of pressure on me. Overall, I am happy with the way I fought after my failure against [Carl] Froch. I feel it was the true Bute. I want revenge. I hope Froch wins his next match [against Yusaf Mack]. Then we can fight.”

Great words from a true sportsman in Bute. He did fight well after getting the kinks out of his game early in the fight. It’s quite understandable that Bute fought with caution in the early going, because after all he’d been stopped in his previous bout. But once Bute got warmed up and realized there was nothing for him to be worried about, he really teed off on Grachev and fought remarkably well for the last 8 rounds of the fight. Bute will now face Carl Froch next, as long as Froch beats Yusaf Mack on November 17th in their fight in Nottingham, England. Bute wants to avenge his loss and add Froch’s scalp to his mantle.

I thought it was vintage Bute for the most part. You got to give Grachev a lot of credit for being able to take all the punishing shots that Bute hit him with, because Grachev was ready to be knocked out in the 12th round but he stood in there and took a rain of power shots from Bute without hitting the canvas. Had there been a 13th round, Grachev would have no doubt been knocked out if Bute had continued to pour in the punishing head blows.