By Jason Kim: Undefeated IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (24-0, 19 KO’s) will be reportedly defending his International Boxing Federation title against number #1 ranked challenger Librado Andrade (28-2, 21 KO’s) according to Hot News.ro. The fight won’t be taking place in Bute’s adopted country of Canada, and that Golden Boy apparently has the rights to show the fight, the article states.

As of now, there isn’t a date for the fight. However, it would seem likely that the fight should be taking place in the next couple of months, because Bute hasn’t seen action since March when he easily defeated then challenger Fulgencio Zuniga in a 4th round stoppage.

For some people, this is disappointing news that Bute will be facing Andrade, because many fans were hoping that he would face WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch, who has recently become a popular fighter with his 12th round TKO over Jermain Taylor in April.

I personally have no problem with Bute fighting Andrade, since his victory over the Mexican fighter was deeply controversial after Bute received a long count by the Canadian referee after Andrade dropped Bute in the 12th round of their bout in October 2008.

Bute was given extra time to get up after the referee twice turned away from administering the count to the downed Bute to give warnings to Andrade about going back to the neutral corner. It looked as if Bute should have been counted out by the referee but the extra time gave Bute enough time to get up and last out the round and the win the fight.

Given the controversy that surrounded the fight, the wise move for Bute would have been to give Andrade an immediate rematch while the fan interest was still there. Now, almost a year later, the fight has faded in the memory of a lot of ans.

Bute took the opportunity to take an easy money fight against Zuniga in March rather than give Andrade an immediate rematch. For his part, Andrade was forced to fight Vitali Tsypko in an IBF title eliminator bout in April. Andrade dominated Tsypko, beating him by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision.

Aydin vs. Bonsu on July 11th

Undefeated welterweight contender Selcuk Aydin (18-0, 14 KO’s) will be fighting power puncher Jackson Osei Bonu (30-2, 23 KO’s) on July 10th, in Istanbul, Turkey. Both fighters are highly ranked, with Bonsu ranked an incredible number #3 in the WBC, and Aydin ranked at number #2.

Both are coming off of controversial wins as Aydin defeated Said Ouali in a 12-round split decision in April, looking short, slow and not all that powerful in the fight. I had him losing by two rounds to the little known Ouali.

For his part, Bonsu won a controversial 12 round majority decision over 38-year-old Carlos Baldomir in December 2008. I had Baldomir winning the fight by one round. At worse, I saw the fight as a draw. Bonsu looked unimpressive throughout the fight and nothing like a top ranked fighter.

Both Bonsu and Aydin seem to be ranked way higher than their ability in my view. I see them as B-level fighters. Bonsu is the better fighter by far and should win this fight easily. Aydin looked really bad in his fight with Ouali.