Romanian turned Canadian Lucian Bute successfully defended his International Boxing Federation Super Middleweight (168) Championship Saturday night in Quebec City, Canada in front of a sold out (18,000) arena and a worldwide HBO audience.
Bute, 25-0 (20 KO's) was making the fourth defense of his crown against mandated challenger Librado Andrade, 28-3 (21 KO's) and scored two knockdowns including a fourth round body shot that ended matters.
168? isn't that the same weight division as Showtime Network's World Boxing Classic going on as we speak? That Showtime is bankrolling? Just last week the media came out of the woodwork with Andre Ward being underrated and Mikkel Kessler being overrated along with Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch and Andre Dirrell somewhere in between.
Oh, Jermain Taylor belongs in an assisted living facility before he gets back in with any of these contenders again.
What I'm getting at is that Bute may be the "prize" at the end of the tournament which is over a year away.
However HBO probably plans to wrap him up and then Showtime has nobody on the horizon for its tournament champion to fight at the end of the rainbow except for once or twice beaten fighters from it's own tournament.
Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik might get involved soon if he finds no other challengers or serious money at 160. Paul Williams will fight at any weight between 147 and 168.
Unless HBO and Showtime can put the winners together, the immediate losers are the fans, who won't get to see the best and hottest fighters face each other.
But all is not lost. Bute is certainly beatable and I figure three or four fights stand between Bute and the Showtime Tournament winner down the road. Others at 168 may develop in 18 months or so.
Bute adviser Don Majeski told me last week that Bute would enter the tournament if Jermain Taylor were forced to pull out.
I assume we have a Showtime vs. HBO battle on the verge regarding a weight class that until a few months ago historically couldn't get itself arrested.
I remember Majeski was one, let's say politely, incredibly "upset individual" when Bute wasn't one of the original six chosen for the Showtime Tournament so he and other Bute "people" have an axe to grind with Showtime.
Bute is certainly fun to watch and the Super Six are competitive so 168 might be a fun place to be for the fans for some time to come.
But I couldn't think of a better fight other than Pacquiao vs. Mayweather that I'd rather see than Showtime vs. HBO.
Comments
Good call regarding the possibility of Bute fighting the winner. I really think this tourney will bring much needed repsect to the division on the P4P list.
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