By Scott Gilfoid: What seems to be lost on many boxing fans in looking at tomorrow nights fight between Carl Froch and IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute is how poorly Froch fought the last time he went up against a clever southpaw in the talented Andre Dirrell in 2009. Froch looked like he was out of his class in that fight, and never did get comfortable with Dirrell’s southpaw stance even late in the fight.

Froch is facing another Dirrell-like opponent in southpaw Bute tomorrow and I see Froch having the same kinds of problems that he experienced against Dirrell. It’ll be the same but a little different for Froch in that Bute is more of a puncher than Dirrell. Bute will make Froch pay for his over-aggressiveness and we could see Froch hitting the canvas over and over again. I think Froch will get knocked out viciously unless he stays to the outside and cautiously fights Bute.

In the fight where Bute was knocked out in the amateur ranks by Gennady Golovkin, Bute wasn’t able to set traps because Golovkin boxed him and eventually opened up with a huge right hand in the 4th that knocked Bute out. Froch could do this if he was a big puncher, but he’s not. Froch only has moderate power. No one likes to get hit, and Froch can punch hard enough to annoy Bute, but he’s not a big enough puncher to give Bute any real problems.

Froch is going to be in big trouble because he’ll be getting hit with Bute’s dangerous right hooks when Froch come plodding forward and if he gets in too close, Bute will nail him with a big body shot or an uppercut to the head. Froch will go down like the titanic if he gets hit with one of Bute’s big body punches. I can see it ending fast if Bute catches him perfectly.