By Jim Dower: With most of the top super middleweights taking part in Showtime’s Super Six tournament, International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (26-0, 21 KO’s) is left with few options in trying to scratch up an interesting opponent. He would have liked to have fought slugger Curtis Stevens next if possible.

However, American Jesse Brinkley (35-5, 22 KO’s) took that option away by defeating Stevens on ESPN 2’s Friday Night Fights by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision in January of this year in an IBF super middleweight title eliminator bout in Nevada.

Bute, 30, will now likely be fighting Brinkley in October or November of this year. Bute recently stopped power puncher Edison Miranda in the 3rd round in April in a surprise stoppage. Most boxing fans felt that Bute would win the fight without too many problems, but few people expected Bute to take Miranda out so quickly or at all. In his fight before that, Bute stopped Librado Andrade in the 4th round of their rematch in November 2009.

Brinkley, 33, has defeated Joey Gilbert, Mike Paschall and Stevens in the past year. Brinkley isn’t quite as well-known as some of the other fighters in the super middleweight division. However, he’s got excellent boxing skills and seems to be good in almost every area.

He’s got fast hands, good defensive skills, moves well and puts his shots together. In terms of boxing skills, Brinkley is one of the best fighters in the division. The only thing missing is big power. However, he hits plenty hard enough to cause problems if he can land enough of his shots. Brinkley is the type of fighter that isn’t going to go anywhere if he gets hit hard a few times, unlike some of Bute’s recent opponents. If Brinkley can stick around in the fight long enough, he could test Bute’s vulnerable chin and possibly get him out of there.