By Jim Dower: International Boxing Federation (IBF) super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (27-0, 22 KO’s) could be facing Irish super middleweight contender Brian Magee (34-3-1, 24 KO’s) next on March 19th on Showtime, according to boxing news from Dan Rafael. Magee, 35, is ranked #1 WBA, #4 WBC, #8 IBF, and #13 WBO in the super middleweight division. However, Magee has never beaten any top fighters that really matter and his ranking is badly inflated.
The knock on Bute in the minds of many boxing fans is that he’s not fought any exciting opponents and has taken the lesser path in defending his IBF title over and over again. Since capturing the IBF belt in 2008, Bute has fought and defeated 38-year-old William Joppy, Librado Andrade (twice), Fulgencio Zuniga, Edison Miranda and Jesse Brinkley. Magee would seem to be more of the same type of opponents that Bute has been facing in the past.
I don’t really see Magee as a top tier super middleweight, and I think this is the worst opponent that Bute will have faced while holding down the title. Magee has been beaten in the past by Carl Froch, Vitaliy Tsypko and Robin Reid. His best win of his career is a 7th round TKO win over 37-year-old Mads Larsen, who hadn’t fought in the previous two years before fighting Magee.
Bute, 30, really needs to start stepping it up against better fighters because he’s aging and it would be disappointing if his entire career is spent facing lesser contenders instead of some top fighters that would give his resume some meaning.
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