By Eric Thomas: According to Boxing Talk, undefeated IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (24-0, 19 KOs) will possibly be facing non-top 15 ranked Joe Spina (24-1-1, 17 KOs) next on July 10th rather than Allan Green or Librado Andrade. It’s unclear what the breakdown was in negotiations between Green and Bute, but it must have been something major for Bute to take a fighter like Spina instead of someone ranked in the top 15, like Andrade, Green or someone like Sakio Bika.

Bute, 29, recently stopped Fulgencio Zuniga in the 4th round in March in an impressive performance by Bute, who before that had won a controversial 12-round decision over Andrade in October 2008. Since that defeat, Andrade defeated Vitali Tsypko by a 12 round decision in an IBF Super Middleweight Title Eliminator match in April to earn the right for a rematch with Bute.

July 10th would have been a great time for Bute to give Andrade a much needed rematch. However, it looks as if Bute is going for the easy path, and taking on Spina instead. Bute will be forced to fight Bute later or else have his title stripped from him.

Bute was knocked down in the 12th round by Andrade in their bout and was given extra time to recover when the Canadian referee spent time focusing on telling Andrade to go to the neutral corner rather than administering the count to Andrade.

Spina, 31, seems like an odd choice of an opponent for Bute, given that Spina was stopped in the 3rd round by Peter Manfredo Jr. three years ago in October 2006. Aside from that loss, Spina has beaten mostly B and C-level opponents during his eight year pro career.

Nicknamed the “KO Kid,” Spina struggled to beat Canadian journeyman David Whittom last year, beating him by a six round split decision in April 2008. Perhaps Spina’s best win of his career is a 11th round stoppage win over Jesse Brinkley in May 2006.

Ruiz Wants the Top Heavyweight Contenders to Prove Him Wrong

In a recent open letter from former two time World Boxing Association heavyweight champion John Ruiz (43-8-1, 29 KOs) took issue with a few of the other heavyweight contenders, who are upset that Ruiz is the mandatory challenger for the WBA heavyweight title.

Ruiz, 37, who was defeated by a 12-round split decision by Russian heavyweight Nikolay Valuev for the vacant WBA heavyweight title in August 2008, says that he’s willing to fight one of the top heavyweights – read: Chris Arreola, Eddie Chambers, Kevin Johnson or Brian Minto – before he takes challenges for the WBA title next year.

As such, Ruiz is saying that he’s willing to risk the guaranteed title shot just so that he can shut up one of his critics. Obviously, Ruiz has a fighter that’s interested in shutting up more than the others, but he didn’t say who that person was.

Ruiz couldn’t go wrong in fighting either Arreola or Chambers, because they are considered two of the better heavyweight contenders in the division. Although I have my doubts that either Arreola or Chambers would want to take a risky fight against someone like Ruiz at this point.