Pascal thinks Bute hasn’t recovered from loss to Froch

By Boxing News - 01/18/2014 - Comments

pascal000By Scott Gilfoid: Jean Pascal (28-2-1, 17 KO’s) thinks Lucian Bute (31-1, 24 KO’s) hasn’t fully recovered mentally from his disappointing 5th round TKO loss to Britain’s Carl Froch from 2 years ago in Nottingham. Pascal says Bute didn’t look like he had didn’t have the same confidence he once had in his last fight against Denis Grachev. Pascal plans on trying to take advantage of Bute’s so-called destroyed psyche tonight in their fight at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.

“I doubt he has his confidence back,” Pascal said to Hustleboss. “He fought Carl Froch and he got destroyed by Carl Froch. And then he fought Denis Grachev and he was so-so. He won a 12 round decision, but he got shook a little bit. So I don’t think he got his confidence back. I will test him him inside the ring. He doubts himself. It’s mental.”

Oh brother, Pascal’s seeing things that aren’t there. I mean, just because Bute didn’t shine against a solid fighter in Grachev, Pascal makes a big deal out if it like Bute lost his nerve. Believe me, Bute didn’t leave anything from the Froch fight. The only difference I see is that Bute is smarter now and not taking as many chances as he did in the Froch fight and in some of his other fights. He’s fighting perfect now, because he’s hitting when he knows he’s got very little chance of being hit back, and he’s not getting careless like he was before.

The Froch fight gave Bute a real gift because it showed him that he can’t get careless just because he’s in with a less talented fighter than him with no speed whatsoever and horrible footwork. I chock Bute’s loss up to him getting careless in the Froch fight, because he was the favorite in that fight going in. Instead of keeping his guard up, Bute fought with his hands down low and tried to fight Froch with his back against the ropes like he’d been accustomed to doing in some of his recent bouts against middle of the road opposition.

Yeah, it didn’t work against Froch, but that was a learning tool. Froch got the victory, but Bute gained from the fight because he’s improved the one area of his game where he had a weakness. Tonight you won’t see Bute letting his guard down and getting careless like he did against Froch, because Pascal’s too good of a fighter for Bute to fight like that against him and still win.



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