Lucian Bute could be facing Brinkley next if Pavlik bout can’t be put together

By Boxing News - 06/04/2010 - Comments

By Jason Kim: IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute could be facing mandatory challenger Jesse Brinkley next if a fight between Bute and former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik can’t be put together. Bute wants the fight with Pavlik, as doe HBO as well. However, it’s unclear whether Pavlik and his Top Rank promoter Bob Arum will be willing to risk Pavlik against a talented fighter like Bute so soon after Pavlik was beaten by Sergio Martinez.

Pavlik lost his WBC/WBO middleweight titles to Martinez on April 17th, the same night that Bute destroyed Edison Miranda in an 3rd round TKO in a split site double-header for HBO. The way that HBO had it set up, it was pretty clear that they were trying to height the fan interest for a big fight between Bute and Pavlik.

However, Pavlik might have ruined HBO’s plans by coming into the Martinez fight looking like a light heavyweight and fighting in a slow and lethargic manner, like he had just woken up. Now that Pavlik has lost his title, it’s questionable whether Arum will want to put him in a risky fight against Bute without any warm-up or confidence boosting fights beforehand.

Although Pavlik is moving up to the super middleweight division and wants to fight the best fighters in the weight class, it could be bad timing to put Pavlik in with Bute, who is considered by many boxing fans to be the very best of the super middleweights right now. The way that Pavlik looked against Martinez, he would likely have big problems against Bute.

The only real plus that I could see for Pavlik is that he would have a much better chin than the last fighters that have been getting mowed down by Bute recently and would likely stay in the fight for the full 12 rounds. If Pavlik is able to get to the later rounds against Bute, he would have a very real chance of hurting and possibly stopping Bute.

We already saw how Bute is susceptible to fading late in his first fight against Librado Andrade when Bute was dropped in the 12th and was barely able to recover to win a 12 round decision. Pavlik, with his big power and good chin, could catch up to Bute late and maybe stop him. More than likely, though, Bute would easily outbox Pavlik in the same way that Bernard Hopkins and Martinez did.



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