By Allan Fox: Former IBF World super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (31-2, 24 KOs) has hit a rough patch in his boxing career in the last two years with losses to Jean Pascal and Carl Froch. Bute has lost 2 out of his last 3 fights, and he’s now fighting at light heavyweight where you would have to assume that his chin problems will be further highlighted.
Bute was knocked out in 5 rounds by Froch in May of 2012, and ever since that fight Bute has looked gun-shy in his fights against Denis Grachev and Pascal. In both fights, Bute fought like a guy that was afraid to let his hands go for fear of running into something big.
Bute defeated Grachev by an unimpressive 12 round unanimous decision in November of 2012, but then he looked poor in losing to
Bute is currently ranked at #4 by the World Boxing Council at 175, and within reach of a title shot against WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson. But that’s a fight that you would have to consider a really tough one for Bute given how poor he looked in losing to Pascal past January in Bute’s one-sided 12 round decision loss.
Two months from now, Bute will be facing former world title challenger Roberto Bolonti (35-3, 24 KOs) on December 6th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Bolonti has a little bit of power that could potentially worry Bute, but this is still a very winnable fight for Bute. He should be able to beat Bolonti with no problems, as WBA World light heavyweight champion Jurgen Braehmer and Tony Bellew both did in the past. If Bute loses this fight or if he struggles to win then you’ve got to interpret this as a sign that it’s pretty much over for Bute. Bolonti is a guy that Bute is supposed to beat.
Bute can still get big money fights in Canada against the likes of Pascal, but whether he can win those types of fights is another question. The division doesn’t seem a good fit for Bute because there are no weak links right now other than WBA belt holder Braehmer.
If Bute decides he wants to fight Stevenson then he could be the end for Bute. He doesn’t match up well against Stevenson due to his superior hand speed and power. Bute can’t go in the direction of WBO champion Sergey Kovalev because he has far too much firepower for Bute to handle.
Bute doesn’t have much time to make a mark at 175 because there are guys like Artur Beterbiev moving up that will eventually surpass Bute as one of the top contenders in the division.
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