By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch is hoping to lure IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute over to Nottingham, England so that Froch can have a home fight against the fighter that some boxing fans feel is the best fighter in the super middleweight division.
Froch is the mandatory challenger for Bute’s IBF title and they’ve been trying to work out a deal for some time but it’s been slow going due to Showtime television, which has a contract with Bute, not being interested in televising a Froch-Bute fight. In addition, Froch and his promoter prefer that the first fight of a proposed two fight deal take place in Nottingham rather than Montreal, Canada, the city where Bute fights often.
Froch told Sky Sports News “Amir Khan is fighting on the 19th, so I think will either be on the 12th or the 26th.”
Bute said earlier this week that he doesn’t care if he has to travel to Nottingham to make the fight happen; he just wants the fight and obviously sees some vulnerability in Froch’s game in order for him to be so open to traveling and fighting in Froch’s home city. In October 2009, the last time Froch fought at home, he beat American Andre Dirrell in a fight where people outside of the UK thought Dirrell easily won. It was a very controversial decision as Froch landed so few punches due to Dirrell’s incredible defensive skills, and Froch got away with an awful lot of fouling in that fight without once being penalized.
Perhaps Bute hasn’t seen the Froch-Dirrell fight because if he did, he might not be in such a hurry to agree to fight Froch in Nottingham. Bute has excellent power and Froch’s puss will be there to hit all night long. Maybe Bute is counting on putting a big dent in front’s lantern jaw early so that he can take the judges out of the fight.
What’s good about Bute is that he punches well to the body, and he’s not someone that necessarily is limited to just knocking a guy out with head shots. This is good because Froch likes to brag about his ability to take punishment. Well, if Bute has no luck in taking Froch out with head shots, he can always go to the body to accomplish his goals in a different route.
I think Froch is making the wrong decision to fight Bute next. Froch was just soundly beaten by WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward last December by a 12 round decision in the Super Six tournament and the last thing that Froch needs is another hard fight right now. He needs time to learn some new skills in how to deal with hit and run fighters, and he probably needs a good confidence instilling win to boost his spirits. My advice is for Froch to take two or three tunes-ups against Bute-type opposition before trying to get a fight against the real thing. There’s no point in Froch fighting Bute right now and getting schooled in front of his own fans in Nottingham.
Comments are closed.