Sean McDaniel: The fight that boxing fans want to see is IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (26-0, 21 KO’s) facing the winner of the August 14th clash between WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal and former light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson. However, the chances of Bute taking a fight against either of them, especially the tall and incredibly fast Dawson, is rather slim.

Instead, the word is Bute, 30, would like to take the arguably safer choice of fighting former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, if the American fighter is interested in fighting him. A potential fight between Bute and Pavlik is sure to be one that the cable networks would be interested in.

But the question of timing for a fight like that is not especially good right now. Pavlik was beaten in his last fight to Sergio Martinez on April 17th, and it was a pretty bad beating that Pavlik suffered in that fight. Pavlik hasn’t looked good against fighters that move a lot, as he was previously beaten by Bernard Hopkins in 2008.

It would an insane move for Pavlik to sign on for a fight with Bute, who moves even more than Hopkins and Martinez. It would be an almost guaranteed loss for Pavlik, which is probably why there’s interest in fighting him.

However, a match between Bute and Dawson is a whole different story. In that case, the roles would likely reverse with Dawson being the one would be in an excellent position to school Bute and Bute not showing interest in fighting him.

My guess is Bute will stay well away from Dawson if and when he outclasses Jean Pascal on August 14th. Dawson is probably too good for Bute and a fighter who would be able to neutralize Bute’s hit and run technique without any problems.

Bute will be defending his IBF title against American Jesse Brinkley in October in a fight that will be held at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada. That’s not a particularly interesting fight for Bute, and it’s doubtful that one will make it on cable television in the U.S.

Bute is considered by many to be the number #1 fighter in the super middleweight division. However, more and more boxing fans are now seeing the younger, faster Andre Ward as being the number #1 fighter in the division. Bute is going to have to step it up against Ward or Dawson if he wants to continue to be thought of as the best in the division.

Beating Pavlik won’t like do much other prove that Bute could do what Martinez and a 45-year-old Hopkins could do. Bute’s best wins of his career have come against Librado Andrade and Edison Miranda. However, Ward has probably the better wins with his one-sided defeats over Mikkel Kessler and Allan Green in the Super Six tournament.