By Scott Gilfoid: Former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (30-1, 24 KO’s) is going to be showing his iron balls when he takes on tough as nails light heavyweight power puncher Denis Grachev (12-0, 8 KO’s) on November 3rd at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada.

Bute, who is coming off of a loss to Carl Froch in his last fight in May, doesn’t want to take it easy and face just anyone. Bute has chosen the biggest puncher in the light heavyweight division in Grachev. That shows you what kind of person Bute is.

Grachev said this about his fight with Bute at RingTV:
“He [Bute] showed the world that he can’t handle pressure, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to put a lot of pressure on him…it’s not going to take me so long. I’m looking for a knockout. I’m going to destroy Bute.”

I can respect that. Grachev is going to bring it on November 3rd and will be trying to duplicate what he did against Ismayl Sillakh, arguably a top 3 light heavyweight in the division. Grachev wore Sillakh down with his pressure and his power shots in beating him by an 8th round TKO last April. Grachev didn’t have the better boxing skills in that fight, and he didn’t have the better hand and foot speed. But what Grachev did have was huge heart, huge power and huge determination to win the fight despite his lack of talent in comparison to the much better skilled Sillakh.

Bute is going to show a lot in beating Grachev. I see this fight as no drop off at all from Bute’s last fight against Froch. Grachev is every bit as good as Froch, if not better. Grachev is the bigger puncher and he’s the more dangerous fighter in my book. Bute didn’t want to have an easy fight, and he’s willing to put his career on the line by taking this fight. That shows you that Bute is the real deal, and he means business.

Believe me, if Bute beats Grachev on November 3rd then I can see Bute moving on to beat Froch next year in their fight in March. Grachev is no different than Froch, so if Bute can get past this fight in one piece with a nice win, I can see him easily beating Froch in their rematch.

As far as Grachev seeing himself getting a KO win over Bute, that’s not going to happen. Bute is not going to let that happen, and it’s going to be a great victory for him.