By Scott Gilfoid: With IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler about to go at it in the UK in early 2013, former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (31-1, 24 KO’s) will be in a great position to slide in and take one of the super middleweight titles in 2013 after these guys pick each other off.
WBA/WBC super-middleweight champion Andre Ward and Bute could emerge from the wreckage as the top two fighters in the division after Kessler and Froch deplete themselves in their fight. Also a fighter that could move in to take advantage of the spoils is the talented Andre Dirrell, who is looking to get back in the ring to get back in the thick of things.
Dirrell is being trained by legendary trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. and he’s got high hopes for Dirrell. Bute is in an immediate position to capitalize because he’s already ranked and will be looking to take a top contender early next year. Unbeaten contender Edwin Rodriguez has been mentioned as the most likely opponent that Bute ends up facing, and that’s a quality fighter.
I’d like to see Bute defeat Rodriguez, and then look to fight the winner of the Froch-Kessler II fight. Whoever emerges as the winner of that fight is going to be pretty badly dinged up and licking his wounds something fierce.
Bute doesn’t need to get a depleted fighter in order to win, because he’s got enough talent to succeed even without Froch and Kessler ripping each other’s heads off, but it certainly helps Bute if they do that because then Bute’s chances of winning back his old International Boxing Federation title will increase tenfold.
Froch will have to give Bute a rematch next year, but it won’t be needed unless Froch is still winning. If he gets picked off by Kessler then there’s no point in Bute ever wasting time fighting Froch, because he needs to be fighting winners, not losers. Let Froch rebuild his career on scrubs, because Bute can’t be tied down with him.
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