By Jim Dower: In a long awaited rematch, IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (24-0, 19 KO’s) will be fighting challenger Librado Andrade (28-2, 21 KO’s) on November 28th in Montreal, Canada. Bute and Andrade previously fought last year on October 24th, a fight in which Andrade dropped Bute in the 12th round. Bute looked to be in the process of being counted out by Canadian referee Marlon Wright when he suddenly stopped counting and turned his attention to Andrade, directing him to go back to the neutral corner.

Wright then started counting again, but then turned his head again to look at Andrade instead of finishing the count. The extra time appeared to give the badly hurt Bute enough time to get up from the knockdown and finish the fight on his feet.

Bute had dominated the first 10 rounds of the bout, but the constant pressure that Andrade had been putting on him during the fight began to get to Bute in the 11th round when Andrade hurt him with a big left hand. While trying to fire off some more shots seconds after hurting Bute, Andrade’s path was blocked by the referee who pulled Andrade off of Bute just when he was trying to finish him off.

In the 12th round, Bute, still hurt from the previous round and very tired, was knocked around the entire round by Andrade, taking some vicious shots but somehow Bute was able to stay on his feet. However, in the 20 seconds of the round, Bute went staggering across the ring after getting nailed by several hard right hands from Andrade and ended up stuck against the ropes with each arm held out to the sides like a fly caught in a spiders’ web.

Andrade then walked over to Bute and clocked him with a big right hand sending him to the canvas. That is where the fight fell apart with the referee focusing attention on Andrade rather than administering the count to the local fighter Bute. One hopes that if Andrade is able to hurt Bute again that there won’t be a repeat performance by the referee.

Andrade, being the challenger, will be forced to fight in Canada once again to take the fight, a place where it’s often difficult for visiting fighters to win decisions. The difference is that now Andrade is fighting out of Canada himself, so he might get the benefit of the doubt if there’s a close decision. Wright probably won’t be the referee for this next fight because of the controversy from last time.

Bute looked good last time out, but he seemed to crumble under the pressure from Andrade. It’s likely that the fight will follow the same pattern as last time with Bute dominating most of the fight with his constant movement, jabs and counter punches, with Andrade pursuing him and wearing him down.

Bute’s chin isn’t the greatest and if he’s forced to stand and trade with Andrade for any length of time he’s very beatable. Bute is going to have to hope that his legs can keep him on the move for long enough to avoid getting shook up again, because he’ll likely get dropped again if Andrade can track him down in the later rounds.