By Allen Fox: IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (29-0, 24 KO’s) looks in fantastic shape with a month to go before his title defense against 42-year-old Glen Johnson (51-15-2, 35 KO’s) at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec city, Quebec, Canada.

In recent video of Bute working out, the 31-year-old Bute was using a lot of movement around the ring and thus giving a hint of how he’ll approach this fight with the hard hitting Johnson. Bute rarely stands in front of his opponents for any length of time even when facing weak punchers, but against Johnson next month, you can expect for Bute to be using a lot of hit and run attacks to keep from tasting Johnson’s power. Bute has excellent punching power himself and good boxing skills.

However, his chin is clearly his weak spot, as we saw in his controversial 12 round decision win over Librado Andrade in their first fight in October 2008. Bute appeared to get knocked out in that fight in the 12th, only to receive a delayed count by the Canadian referee, who spent valuable time warning Andrade to go back to the neutral corner rather than starting the count on the fallen Bute.

Johnson will have to take a lot of hard shots if he’s to have any chance of winning this fight, because Bute is fast and will be looking to land a lot of punches to slow Johnson down. If Johnson can take the punishment and stay close enough to Bute to throw a lot of punches, we could see a big upset in this fight. However, Johnson had problems in his last fight against WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch last June.

Johnson lost that fight by a 12 round majority decision, but really wasn’t competitive. Johnson will need to stay on top of Bute and throw a lot more punches than he did against Froch for him to have an opportunity to win. It might take a knockout for Johnson to ensure that he gets the win because the fight venue will be a home fight for Bute.