Bute vs. Joppy On February 29th

By Boxing News - 01/10/2008 - Comments

International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (21-0, 17 KOs) will put his unbeaten record on the line when he takes on former World Boxing Association middleweight champion William Joppy on February 29th, at the Bell Centre, Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. In his last bout, Bute, 27, defeated knockout artist Alejandro Berrio by 11th round TKO on October 19th, a bout in which Bute spent most of the fight running from Berrio and trying to prevent getting hit from his bombs.

It was a particularly disappointing fight to watch if you were a fan of Bute, or of boxing for that matter, as Bute looked awful with his constant running around the ring. In the end, Bute appeared to have won more due to having tired out Berrio rather than from hurting him with his weak shots. Bute’s style of fighting is not unlike Felix Sturm, the World Boxing Association middleweight champion, known for fighting mostly weaker European opponents, and for staying on the outside, preferring to box rather than engage his opponents. In choosing Joppy, now 37, Bute appears to be looking for an easy win over a big name from the past.

Joppy, at one time was the WBA middleweight champion up until 2003 when he lost his title to Bernard Hopkins by 12-round unanimous decision, has done little since then. In his next bout after his loss to Hopkins, Joppy was defeated by Jermain Taylor by 12-round unanimous decision in December 2004. Though Joppy was still a good fighter at that stage in his career, he did little afterwards, fighting five consecutive C-level fighters in the past four years. Even stranger, Joppy, considered small for a middleweight at 5’9,” he moved up all the way to light heavyweight, and almost insane career move for him.

Joppy could have easily have dropped down to light middleweight, and with his speed and power, he would have been an immediate contender for one of the titles. Instead, he went in the opposite direction, perhaps thinking he had the power and skills to compete with the bigger fighters. He’ll have problems with Bute, who although not much of a puncher, he has a good jab, and an air tight dense that Joppy will find problematic to solve.

Oddly enough, Joppy may in fact be the best opponent that Bute has faced inhis career, as he’s fought mostly limited opposition almost exclusively since turning pro. Even Berrio and Sakio Bika, Bute’s best opponents, a hardly what you would call highly skilled fighters in the class of Joppy. Unfortunately, Joppy is a bit too old, at 37, and he’s clearly fighting out of his weight class by challenging Bute at 168, thus he’ll likely lose by 12-round decision. I don’t see Bute stopping him, because he doesn’t have the type of firepower to worry a professional like Joppy, who’s been in with some skilled fighters during his career.