By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Froch (28-2, 20 KO’s) hasn’t even fought IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (30-0, 24 KO’s) and already he thinks it’s going to be one of his career best fights.

Froch and Bute will do battle next month on May 26th in what could turn out to be the first of two fights if the outcome is close. I don’t think it will, so I’m guessing this will be the first and the last time Froch and Bute meet in the ring.

Froch said to Sky Sports News “Against Lucian Bute, he boxes and moves, he can punch a bit, I think this fight against Bute has the makings of a real showdown, probably one of my best fights.”

I think this is going to be one of Froch’s WORST fights. I think I’ve seen enough of Froch’s fights to know what kind of fighters he does well against, and Bute isn’t one of them. Bute is frustrating because he can fight in a couple of ways depending on the type of opponent facing him. If he’s facing a powerful puncher, Bute is happy to hit and dash backwards all night long to keep from getting hit.

He can literally run around the ring like Amir Khan, and stink up the joint if he has to in order to win. But if he’s in with a light hitter or a fighter that’s hurt, Bute will change up and go right after them to try and take them out with uppercuts. Against Froch, I see Bute doing a little bit of both slugging and running. I think he’ll run in the early rounds by fighting in a tag and your it mode. But once Froch starts gassing in the 2nd half and showing serious signs of fatigue, Bute will turn around and come right at him to try and put Froch out of his misery with a peach of an uppercut.

Honestly, there’s not much Froch can do. Bute will be the one deciding how the fight will be run. He’ll be dictating the pace and what will happen. If he runs, Froch will chase just as all of Bute’s past opponents have done.

Bute will then fight going backwards, as he does this very well. He’ll also stop running all of a sudden to plant a big right uppercut on Froch’s jaw to see what that does to him. It’s going to be difficult for Froch, because he’ll never know when he’s going to get hit, and he’s going to be getting harder than he’s been hit since his fight against Andre Dirrell in October 2009.