By Scott Gilfoid: NABF light heavyweight champion Denis Grachev (12-0-1, 8 KO’s) is ready and motivated to try and walk though the hard shots of former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (30-1, 24 KO’s) on Saturday night in their crucial fight at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Grachev, a fighter with a steel chin, believes he can actually walk though Bute’s big shots and he’s going to try it this Saturday night.

Speaking with Fightnews.com, Grachev said “Lucian can touch me as many times as he wants. I’m going to punch him hard…you’re going to see the finish.”

I wouldn’t recommend the 30-year-old Grachev trying to walk though too many of Bute’s shots because he’s got too much power and he’s not necessarily going to be aiming all of his punches towards the Grachev’s steel chin on Saturday night. Bute is going to be aiming a lot of his shots at Grachev’s vulnerable midsection and we could see Bute producing a knockout from a body shot in this.

After all, Bute is widely know as the biggest body puncher in boxing today and it’s not smart for anyone to try and walk though his shots. Carl Froch got lucky in his fight with Bute last May because Bute didn’t even throw any body shots in that fight. It’s as if Bute forgot that valuable part of his game by not electing to use those punches for some reason. Had Bute focused on throwing to Froch’s body 90% of the time, we might have seen a much different outcome in that fight.

Grachev is a huge puncher and there’s no question that he can KO Bute if he’s able to catch up to him to unload with his big shots. It won’t be pretty if Bute isn’t able to keep on the move because Grachev hits harder than Froch, and we saw what happened to Bute when he was hit by Froch last May. Bute has got to hit and run on Saturday night, and focus more on body work. He can’t beat Grachev by going to the head because this guy can take head shots no problem.