By Scott Gilfoid: Both Showtime and HBO took a pass on the May 26th fight between recently beaten former WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (28-2, 20 KO’s) and current IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (30-0, 24 KO’s). However, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN, Bute’s promoter Jean Bedard spoke to ESPN about them televising it but it might be without money from the cable giant.

Bedard will try shop the fight around to more U.S. cable companies to see if he can get any takers, but thus far the two major players – HBO and Showtime – are avoiding the Bute-Froch like the plague. To be fair, you really can’t blame them because there is a lot of pressure in the United States to put on quality fights and that means fighters that are WINNING, and not someone that just got dominated like Froch did against Andre Ward.

This is about ratings and putting on a fight that American boxing fans want to see. Bute already has won seven straight fights that were completely one-sided from start to finish in the past two years. Who wants to see him face another guy that doesn’t have any chance against him? HBO and SHowtime would both likely jump at the chance to air a fight between Bute and the Dirrell brother if he would make the fight, but instead we’re seeing Bute go after a guy that just beaten in the Super Six tournament in 34-year-old Carl Froch.

Showtime and HBO aren’t going to pay to televise Bute-Froch. That would be like rewarding Bute for selecting a guy just got beat. That’s not how it’s done in the U.S. You got to fight the best and the best in the super middleweight division right now are guys that are WINNING, not LOSING, like Froch. Bute should have stepped up to the plate and fought one of the Dirrell brothers instead of Froch. As such, he’ll likely have to settle for ESPN or maybe EPIX if he’s lucky.