By Scott Gilfoid: IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute needs to listen to WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward and choose to fight Andre Dirrell next rather than look for another scrub fighter to pad his record with.

If Bute wants to get an opponent that Showtime will agree to, then he needs to start talking with Dirrell because he’s someone that Showtime would definitely agree to putting on their netowrk. Showtime is cool to Bute’s desire to fight former WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch next likely because of how it will look to boxing fans at home in seeing Bute once again being fed a beatable opponent. Dirrell, Andre Ward, Anthony Dirrell and Bute are the best four fighters in the super middleweight division and all other fighters need to wait in line while these go at it. Bute can’t be given any more soft fights on Showtime. If he wants to pad his record then he needs to go to HBO and maybe they’ll be cool with him fighting the soft guys he’s been feasting on his entire career. But Showtime looks like they’re finally putting their foot down and saying no to this.

Froch was beaten just last month by Andre Ward, and it would look really bad if Showtime were to give their approval to a Bute-Froch fight, especially given all the fodder that Bute has fought during the last three years as the IBF champion.

Why should Showtime bend over backwards for Bute rather than give him some tough love by making his walk the right course and start fighting guys with a pulse. I think Froch is a swell fighter but the fact of the matter is he struggles when facing talent like Ward, Dirrell and to a lesser extent Mikkel Kessler.

This is why Showtime needed to say no to Bute when he got the not so brilliant idea that it would be great to fight the recently beaten Froch rather than someone that’s actually fighting well and winning. I just know who would even think of such a dumb idea as to fight Froch when he just got whipped. If that was Bute’s idea, then he needs to let his promoter think for him because that was just dumb. I wouldn’t even want to see Bute fight Froch in a stay busy fight.

As a champion, you got to fight guys that are WINNNING, not LOSING, and Froch got whipped by Ward. So, the right choice for Bute and his promoter to make for his next fight is for them to pick Dirrell and once they do that Showtime will likely give their blessing to the fight. But if Bute is stubborn about it and tries to trot out Froch or someone like Librado Andrade again, then Bute deserves to have Showtime set limits and say no to his mismatch. You can’t let a fighter that’s used to fighting mismatches over and over again keep shoving that garbage down the throats of American fans.