Shawn Estrada, Luis Ramos, Bute-Andrade – Latest Boxing News

Unbeaten IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute will put his title on the line on Saturday night against the human punching machine Librado Andrade at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The fight in many ways mirrors Andrade’s losing effort against WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler in March 2007, a fight in which Andrade lost every round and was never in the fight. Bute, formerly from Romania, fights in a similar style as Kessler, moving well on the outside, retreating when attacked and very sound offensively.

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Bute-Andrade: Lucian Faces His Toughest Test

bute312432.jpgBy Tim Williams: Undefeated IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (22-0, 18 KOs) will be going up his toughest test to date against Librado Andrade (27-1, 21 KOs) on October 24th at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The southpaw Bute, 28, is coming off an impressive 10th round TKO win over former WBA middleweight champion William Joppy in February. Bute controlled the fight the entire way, beautifully outmaneuvering Joppy, hitting him with jabs and straight lefts, rarely getting hit by the former middleweight champion.

Bute’s next opponent, Andrade, 30, defeated Robert Stieglitz by an 8th round TKO in March. Andrade never stopped punching, looking like a bigger version of Antonio Margarito as he continuously poured in punches on Stieglitz, who fought back well at times with harder shots. However, Andrade never let up on his withering fire, hitting Stieglitz from all angles and bloodying his nose. In the 8th round, Andrade hit Stieglitz with an avalanche of unanswered punches, leading to the referee jumping in and halting the fight. This was Andrade’s second impressive performance after being soundly beaten by Mikkel Kessler in a failed title attempt against the WBA/WBC super middleweight champion. Andrade’s constant outpour of punches mostly missed against Kessler, who moved constantly on the outside, not presenting a stationary target and jabbing him constantly to the head.

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Lucian Bute vs. Librado Andrade on October 24th

bute55.jpgBy Sean McDaniel: Undefeated IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (22-0, 18 KOs) will be facing his toughest battle to date when he defends his IBF title against his number #1 challenger once-beaten Librado Andrade (27-1, 21 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout at the Bell Centre, Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. Bute, 28, a former amateur star from Romania now living and fighting out of Canada, is making his 2nd defense of his IBF super middleweight title which he won in a 11th round TKO of Colombian knockout artist Alejandro Berrio in October 2007.

Since then, Bute has defended the title once, beating a badly shot 37 year-old William Joppy in a 10th round TKO in February, a fight which created a stir in the boxing community because many felts felt that Bute should have been looking towards fighting a more worthy opponent than Joppy, who had done little in recent years to deserve a title shot. However, Bute appeared to want an easy fight over a big-named opponent, even if it meant fighting a fighter that was well past his prime. In facing Andrade, 29, Bute is going from one extreme to the other, facing perhaps the best non-champion in the division.

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Andrade Too Much For Stieglitz

andrade55475.jpgBy Michael Tornay: Super middleweight contender Librado Andrade (27-1, 21 KOs) overwhelmed Russian Robert Stieglitz (31-2, 19 KOs) with punches, stopping him in the 8th round of a scheduled 12-round IBF Super Middleweight Title Eliminator on the undercard of the Michael Katsidis vs. Joel Casamayor bout at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, in Cabazon, California, on Saturday night. Andrade, who failed previously in a title challenge against then super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler in March 2007, a fight in which Andrade lost every round of their 12-round bout.

However, Saturday’s opponent, Robert Stieglitz, 26, had none of the speed, ring skills or movement that Kessler had, and couldn’t avoid the non-stop punches of Andrade. Though Stieglitz, ranked #4 in the IBF, made it interesting for awhile at least, winning the fourth and fighting competitively in the 5th, he eventually was hurt by a right hand from Andrade in the 8th. Once he had him hurt, Andrade quickly finished Stieglitz off with a flurry of shots while he attempted to cover up on the ropes. The referee Ray Corona stepped in and stopped the bout at 1:53 of the 8th round, while Stieglitz was still on his feet.

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Andrade vs. Stieglitz On Saturday

andrade2424.jpgBy Manuel Perez: Former super middleweight title challenger Librado Andrade (26-1, 20 KOs) will take on Russian Robert Stieglitz (31-1, 19 KOs) on Saturday night in an IBF super middleweight title eliminator at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, in Cabazon, California. The winner of the bout gets a shot at IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, which will be no easy task for the winner. Andrade, 29, ranked #5 in the IBF and #8 in the WBC, is a 6’2″ high volume puncher that typically puts a ton of pressure on his opponents and overwhelms them with punches.

His career was cruising along in high gear in 2007, when he lost a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision to then WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler, losing every round of the fight. The loss was especially disappointing for Andrade, in that he looked bad and failed to fight competitively against Kessler.

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