DeGale-Bute announcement expected soon

By Boxing News - 10/01/2015 - Comments

bute553By Scott Gilfoid: An announcement is expected soon within days of a fight between IBF super middleweight champion James “Chunky” DeGale (21-1, 14 KOs) and 35-year-old former IBF 168lb champion Lucian Bute (32-2, 25 KOs) for a fight that is being talked about for November 28th in Montreal, Canada.

Bute, ranked #5 WBC, #8 WBA, #11 IBF, will be a voluntary defense for the 28-year-old DeGale rather than a mandatory challenger. There still isn’t an established No.1 contender for DeGale as of yet, as the number 1 & 2 spots aren’t rated yet.

The arguably most talented contender in the IBF’s top 15 rankings, Andre Dirrell, is ranked at No.9, which is a really strange ranking considering that Dirrell has the kind of talent that would enable him to beat all the other top contenders in the division.

“I’m told announcement of DeGale-Bute will come any day. #boxing,” Dan Rafael said on his Twitter.

Selecting Bute for DeGale’s first title defense is a rather disappointing in the eyes of many boxing fans because Bute has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights, and not beaten anyone of note in many years. DeGale’s best win of his career was against Sakio Bika many years ago.

Bute’s other best victories were against the likes of Glen Johnson, Librade Andrade, Jesse Brinkley, Brian Magee, Edison Miranda, and William Joppy. Honestly, Bute really never beat anyone that you can call a good fighter other than Bika, and that was ages ago. I think Bika would KO Bute right now if the two of them were to face each other.

I see Bute as a relic from the past rather than a relevant fighter from 2015. He’s lost 2 out of his last 4 fights in defeats against Jean Pascal and Carl Froch. His only wins in the last few years came against Denis Grachev and Andrea Di Luisa. Those wins were pretty much useless though because neither of those fighters are top guys at 168 and 175.

DeGale beat Dirrell by a close 12 round decision last May at the Agganis Arena, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Dirrell would have won the fight had he not been knocked down twice in the 2nd round. Dirrell still came close to beating DeGale despite the knockdowns.

The final judges’ scores were 114-112, 117-109 and 114-112. Dirrell dominated the fight after the 4th round, but the judges gave DeGale credit for a bogus knockdown in the 2nd round on the second knockdown of the round, and the judges gave DeGale the 12th, which appeared to be won by Dirrell.



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