By Scott Gilfoid: 35-year-old former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (31-2, 24 KOs) will be looking to revive his shattered career next month in a fight against a still to be determined opponent on August 15th on Premier Boxing Champions on NBCSN from the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada.
With Bute fighting next month, it doesn’t look like he’ll be IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale’s opponent for his first title defense of his IBF 168lb strap. Bute’s name was one of the so-called big names that DeGale’s promoter Eddie Hearn was thinking of matching against DeGale rather than having him fight a rematch against Andre Dirrell or face 50-year-old Bernard Hopkins, who is very interested in fighting him in order to make history.
This Tuesday, Bute’s opponent is expected to be officially announced at a press conference. The fact that Bute hasn’t fought in a year and a half since his embarrassing one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss to Jean Pascal in January 2014 suggests that Bute’s opponent for August 15th is likely going to be a soft touch from the 2nd tier. I think it’s safe to say that Bute won’t be fighting a 1st tier guy with him coming off of a long layoff and a disappointing loss like the one he experienced against Pascal. We’re probably talking about a 2nd tier guy that Bute can beat and look good against.
Bute’s career is basically on life support at this moment, with him having lost two out of his last three fights since 2012. But more worrisome than Bute’s lack of victories in the last three years is the amount of time he’s spending outside the ring. I mean, Bute has only fought three times in the past three years. He didn’t fight at all in 2013, and fought only once in 2014.
Bute has been slowed with injuries, which could be a result of him getting older. But whatever the case, the fact of the matter is with him not fighting on a regular basis, and looking poor when he does, I think it’s very doubtful that Bute will ever win another win another world title. Bute might be able to get a world title shot at some point in the future if he keeps winning against whoever is thrown in the ring with him, but I don’t see him being able to beat any of the existing world champions.
Bute recently signed with Al Haymon, a high powered adviser. It’s unclear whether Haymon will be the one picking out Bute’s next opponent for his August 15th fight. If so, then I think it won’t be anyone that will give him any test. Haymon will likely be careful with Bute and not put him in with anyone risky, or anyone capable of testing his chin in any way. Bute was knocked out by Carl Froch in the 5th round in 2012. Since then, Bute hasn’t looked that great in any of his fights. He beat Denis Grachev by a 12 round decision in November 2012, but he only fought aggressively in the 12th round.
Heavyweight Oscar Rivas and light heavyweight Eleider Alvarez will both be on the undercard of Bute’s fight on August 15th.
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