Hearn wants Bute on Froch-Kessler 2 undercard in May

By Boxing News - 01/24/2013 - Comments

bute2By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn, the promoter for IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch, is hoping that former IBF 168 pound champion Lucian Bute will agree to fight on the undercard of Froch’s next fight in May against Mikkel Kessler in the UK. If Bute doesn’t want to fight on the undercard, then Hearn is still hoping he fights on the same night elsewhere.

It looks like Hearn is hoping to UK boxing interested in a Froch-Bute rematch, and by putting Bute on the Froch-Kessler II undercard then he’d be in a better position to accomplish that.

Hearn said to Sky Sports News “Lucian looks set to fight for the WBC title next and we all like to make that happen on the same night as Froch v Kesser II, in Canada, Romania or even in the UK on the same card.”

Bute would be fighting the winner of next months’ February 16th battle between Sakio Bika and Nikola Sjekloca for the vacant WBA 168 pound title. The World Boxing Council is elevating the current WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward and putting him in the status as WBC Emeritus champion so that they can free up the belt for Bute to face the winner of the Bika-Sjekloca fight.

So in other words whoever wins the title will be pretty much a paper champion. Don’t bet on Ward getting a shot at the winner of his WBC title, because Bute, if he beats the Bika vs. Sjekloca winner, will be then facing Froch in a rematch in Montreal, Canada, even if Froch loses to Kessler. Bute vs. Bika is a very tough fight for both guys. I don’t know who wins that one.

Hearn is dreaming if he thinks Bute would agree to fight on the Froch vs. Kessler II undercard. How would Hearn make that happen? Bute gets huge cash for fighting at home in Montreal in front of crowds of 10,000 fans, so why on earth would he want to fight on the Froch-Kessler II undercard for what would likely be chicken feed?

After Froch and Kessler both get their 2 million pounds each for this rematch there’s probably not going to be much money left over to pay for a good undercard fight. I mean, let’s be real here. At best we’ll probably see some local domestic level fighters fighting it out, but no one really world class and certainly not Bute.



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