By Scott Gilfoid: WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s) has given IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (30-0, 24 KO’s) clear instructions on what he needs to do in order for him to get a fight against him.

Bute said this to prosport.ro about Ward: “Okay, Ward, if you refuse to fight me now, what kind of opponents will you be fighting until we’ll be standing face to face?”

I think I can answer Bute’s question. Anthony Dirrell is Ward’s #1 WBC challenger, and Ward recognizes him as one of the best fighters in the division. That’s who Ward will likely be fighting next. Is that okay with Bute? I mean, I hope that choice lives up to his standards because Dirrell is good enough to beat every fighter that Bute has fought thus far in my estimation and do it with a much higher knockout percentage. Dirrell will be Ward’s first choice. After that, Ward may fight Andre Dirrell. It depends if Andre is busy with one of his fights, but he’s high on Ward’s list and he’s not shy about wanting to fight him. Ward recognizes Andre’s amazing talent and he’s not looking for guys that are coming of one-sided losses either.

Ward wants Bute to fight an ‘A’ level fighter or two, someone like the talented Andre Dirrell or his brother Anthony Dirrell, and prove that he can beat those fighters. Instead of following Ward’s instructions to the letter, Bute has strayed from the path that Ward set for him by looking to fight Ward’s leftovers in former WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch next.

Froch, who was easily beaten by Ward last December in the Super Six tournament finals, initially loved the idea of fighting Bute, and liked it enough to even go to Montreal, Canada to fight Bute. But Froch seems to have changed his mind about it, perhaps he may have had the chance to see Bute’s first fight with Librado Andrade and was scared away after seeing it.

Whatever the case, Froch wants to fight next in Nottingham, England against someone not named Bute. Froch isn’t scared; he just doesn’t want to fight Bute in Canda and I can’t fault the guy for that. But Bute is still longing for the Froch fight and it still hasn’t registered with him that Froch wants nothing to do with it.

The fight that Bute needs to take, fights against the Dirrell brothers, he doesn’t want and it looks like his promoter doesn’t want it either. If Bute can’t get the Froch fight, which he obviously won’t, Bute will probably look to get one of the lower hanging contenders that he feels he can beat. Will they be ‘A’ fighters like Ward wants? No, they’ll obviously be along the lines of the guys that Bute has been fighting.

The Dirrell brothers won’t get the shot against Bute and that’s disappointing because they’re the only ones in the division that can beat Bute, besides Ward. But I guess that’s the real reason going to get a shot against Bute, because they’re just too damn good for Bute to take a chance on fighting them. I smell the fear coming from Canada.