Fat Dan on Bute and Froch

Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
After Andre Ward outpointed Carl Froch to unify super middleweight titles and win the Super Six World Boxing Classic on Dec. 17 in Atlantic City, N.J., he suggested that a good future bout for Froch would be a match with titleholder Lucian Bute, since it was unlikely that Ward himself would meet Froch next.


A few hours earlier, Bute and his promoter, Jean Bedard of InterBox, who were in town to watch the Ward-Froch final, held court with a handful of reporters and voiced their own interest in a potential Froch bout if they were unable to make a fight with Ward should he win the Super Six.


Now, less than a month later, Bute and Froch are negotiating a two-fight deal that would begin with a bout in the spring in Montreal, Bute's adopted hometown where he is a major star, and be followed by a rematch in Froch's hometown of Nottingham, England, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, Froch's promoter, told ESPN.com on Monday.

Hearn said he was "having positive discussions with Jean and the team at InterBox" about the deal and that he was "very happy with the idea of working with them."


"We have penciled two dates -- April 14 for Montreal and Aug. 4 in Nottingham -- for the 'home and away' bouts," Hearn said. "Don't see why we can't get this boxed off in the next week or so."


Although Bedard did not respond to a request for comment, Hearn said there were still elements of the two-fight deal to work through such as what to do if the April fight was a one-sided decision or an early knockout, which would crush the marketability of an automatic rematch.


"At the end of the day, we need the second fight to be relevant and appealing," Hearn said. "I'm very sure it will be."


Bute (30-0, 24 KOs), a native of Romania living in Montreal, has made six defenses of his 168-pound title and hoped to face the winner of the Super Six. However, Ward, who is nursing a fractured left hand he hurt against Froch, made it quite clear after he beat Froch that he was not overly interested in facing Bute next.


Ward said that Bute first needed to earn the fight by beating a top opponent.


Froch and Bute have had a bit of a simmering rivalry already, making it an intriguing fight even though Froch is coming off a clear loss to Ward.


"I think there is more of a story regarding Froch in Canada," Bedard said last month when he and Bute met with media before the Super Six final. "For our fans in Canada, Froch has been talking against Lucian for the past five years so it's a very easy fight to promote for us."


Froch (28-2, 20 KOs) went 3-2 in the Super Six tournament fighting one tough fight after another. Besides losing to Ward, he lost a highly competitive decision to Mikkel Kessler in an all-action fight. He also defeated Andre Dirrell, handing the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, his first career defeat, Arthur Abraham and Glen Johnson.


It remains to be seen if Showtime would have interest in buying Bute-Froch, much less make a commitment to two bouts. It has one fight remaining on a three-fight deal with Bute and also has bankrolled Froch's last six fights.


"We are talking," Hearn said of conversations with Showtime. "They have expressed their desire to keep Carl and I don't envision any problems either side."


However, Showtime, which has Bute's next fight penciled in for April 14, would prefer to make a fight between him and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KOs), who has said he would go to Montreal for the fight and would be willing to meet at a catch weight of 170 pounds.


Hopkins, who turns 47 on Sunday, is already a well-known figure in Montreal. He outpointed Jean Pascal, Montreal's other star fighter, there in a May rematch of a previous draw to become the oldest fighter in boxing history to win a world championship, breaking the record held by heavyweight great George Foreman.

My take:

a 2 fight deal???

I'd prefer Froch and Kessler II, but that is just me.

its a good fight for both of them. if bute wins, he shows that he is really legit and should be considered a threat to ward. if froch wins, he shows that he is still good and isnt over the hill. i dont know about this 2 fight deal thing. i guess its alright but i would rather have bute fight ward right after a froch fight if he won.

Like everyone I'm not sure about the 2 fight thing. What happens if they split fights? What happens if one guy gets killed in the 1st fight? Who is Ward going to fight during that time?

Gumby wrote:Like everyone I'm not sure about the 2 fight thing. What happens if they split fights? What happens if one guy gets killed in the 1st fight? Who is Ward going to fight during that time?

A lot of fights have rematch clauses that never get used because of those reasons. If say Froch get's beatdown, I doubt he will want an immidate rematch. That'd be two losses in a row.

As for Bute, if he get's dominated by Froch, I doubt he'd want an immidate rematch either.

I've never heard of the challenger getting a rematch clause put in, only the champ. WTF ever happened to Bute/Kessler? I think Froch gives Bute all he can handle, but in Montreal, won't get a decision.

I really don't like this match up for Froch, gotta a bad feeling Bute will crack those ribs hard.

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:I really don't like this match up for Froch, gotta a bad feeling Bute will crack those ribs hard.

Yea he might get KOd like Librado did in the rematch

Win win tho, good fight for fans and cool pay day for both guys

gomez1012 wrote:

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:I really don't like this match up for Froch, gotta a bad feeling Bute will crack those ribs hard.

Yea he might get KOd like Librado did in the rematch

Win win tho, good fight for fans and cool pay day for both guys

froch has too good of a chin. i dont see him getting KO'd. froch's chin is what makes this fight dangerous for bute IMO.

powerpuncher wrote:

gomez1012 wrote:

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:I really don't like this match up for Froch, gotta a bad feeling Bute will crack those ribs hard.

Yea he might get KOd like Librado did in the rematch

Win win tho, good fight for fans and cool pay day for both guys

froch has too good of a chin. i dont see him getting KO'd. froch's chin is what makes this fight dangerous for bute IMO.

And Andrade didn't have a good chin? He had never been KO'd until the Bute fight. Chin has nothing to do with body blows. They are the worst. You can have a granit chin but get a kidney shot and you're paralized. Or cracked ribs.

GrantZilla wrote:

powerpuncher wrote:

gomez1012 wrote:

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:I really don't like this match up for Froch, gotta a bad feeling Bute will crack those ribs hard.

Yea he might get KOd like Librado did in the rematch

Win win tho, good fight for fans and cool pay day for both guys

froch has too good of a chin. i dont see him getting KO'd. froch's chin is what makes this fight dangerous for bute IMO.

And Andrade didn't have a good chin? He had never been KO'd until the Bute fight. Chin has nothing to do with body blows. They are the worst. You can have a granit chin but get a kidney shot and you're paralized. Or cracked ribs.

but in their first fight andrade almost KO'd bute. froch is a way better fighter than andrade. i think that bute will win because of speed but i give froch a pretty good shot still.

powerpuncher wrote:]but in their first fight andrade almost KO'd bute. froch is a way better fighter than andrade. i think that bute will win because of speed but i give froch a pretty good shot still.

I agree, just pointing out, that Froch having a good chin doesn't mean much when it comes to the kind of body blows we've seen Bute deliver. Froch is kind of a wiry guy, so I think he could get hurt if he got hit with the kind of shot Andrade did.

I'm also a bit disapointed that Bute will be tied up for two fights, as I'd like to see him fight Ward. But I think this is an interesting fight and I'll try to catch it in Montreal. As you might guess, I like Bute to win this one (both of them).

Tobe wrote:I'm also a bit disapointed that Bute will be tied up for two fights, as I'd like to see him fight Ward. But I think this is an interesting fight and I'll try to catch it in Montreal. As you might guess, I like Bute to win this one (both of them).

Ward's team are a bunch of idiots, they'd rather milk him vs scrubs in empty arenas then take on Bute for a great payday

gomez1012 wrote:

Tobe wrote:I'm also a bit disapointed that Bute will be tied up for two fights, as I'd like to see him fight Ward. But I think this is an interesting fight and I'll try to catch it in Montreal. As you might guess, I like Bute to win this one (both of them).

Ward's team are a bunch of idiots, they'd rather milk him vs scrubs in empty arenas then take on Bute for a great payday

I think they just want to rest him as opposed to milk him. And Ward said he would take the right fight if it came along at 175 (I'm guessing that means Pascal, Cloud or Dawson). Ward seems to be aware of and interested in his legacy. He won't waste his career on bums.

GrantZilla wrote:

powerpuncher wrote:]but in their first fight andrade almost KO'd bute. froch is a way better fighter than andrade. i think that bute will win because of speed but i give froch a pretty good shot still.

I agree, just pointing out, that Froch having a good chin doesn't mean much when it comes to the kind of body blows we've seen Bute deliver. Froch is kind of a wiry guy, so I think he could get hurt if he got hit with the kind of shot Andrade did.

Bute is also a better fighter than when he fought Andrade in the 1st fight.

GrantZilla wrote:

powerpuncher wrote:

gomez1012 wrote:

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:I really don't like this match up for Froch, gotta a bad feeling Bute will crack those ribs hard.

Yea he might get KOd like Librado did in the rematch

Win win tho, good fight for fans and cool pay day for both guys

froch has too good of a chin. i dont see him getting KO'd. froch's chin is what makes this fight dangerous for bute IMO.

And Andrade didn't have a good chin? He had never been KO'd until the Bute fight. Chin has nothing to do with body blows. They are the worst. You can have a granit chin but get a kidney shot and you're paralized. Or cracked ribs.

+1 that and the fact Froch admitted that Kessler's body shots were too much to deal with.

gomez1012 wrote:

Tobe wrote:I'm also a bit disapointed that Bute will be tied up for two fights, as I'd like to see him fight Ward. But I think this is an interesting fight and I'll try to catch it in Montreal. As you might guess, I like Bute to win this one (both of them).

Ward's team are a bunch of idiots, they'd rather milk him vs scrubs in empty arenas then take on Bute for a great payday

I forget does Ward fall under the Haymon umbrella ?

This deal could very well end Froch's run near the top of the heap. His schedule of Pascal and Taylor plus the Super 6 schedule was grueling and Froch isn't young. He took damage in all but the Abraham fight IMO. Bute might take Carl's heart with 24 rounds of body shots. Either way, I thank Carl for taking this entertaining and challenging schedule.

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:

gomez1012 wrote:

Tobe wrote:I'm also a bit disapointed that Bute will be tied up for two fights, as I'd like to see him fight Ward. But I think this is an interesting fight and I'll try to catch it in Montreal. As you might guess, I like Bute to win this one (both of them).

Ward's team are a bunch of idiots, they'd rather milk him vs scrubs in empty arenas then take on Bute for a great payday

I forget does Ward fall under the Haymon umbrella ?

Nah, he's under Goossen which is just as bad

Hearn: Showtime Has Rejected Bute vs. Froch Showdown

According to Eddie Hearn, promoter for super middleweight Carl Froch, Showtime has rejected a potential April fight with IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (30-0, 24KOs). The two sides were discussing a potential two-fight deal, with the first coming on April 14th in Montreal and the second time place in August in Nottingham.

Hearn told TVA Sports that Showtime, who have Bute under contract, would prefer to have the Canadian champion fight an American opponent in his next televised match.

"We discussed the fight with Interbox and we even received a draft of the contract. Both boxers want to fight, but I was told Showtime would like to have Bute face an American. They control the situation because they distribute the money. The two sides have agreed, but we can not do anything more for now," Hearn said.

http://tinyurl.com/7c7dl9v

This makes zero sense

Well thats lame. Why reject a fight between two of the best super middles? Its a legit fight.

kbyte wrote:Well thats lame. Why reject a fight between two of the best super middles? Its a legit fight.

sounds like Showtime wants Bute/Ward and will not allow anyone to derail that fight. Ward will have a stay busy (relatively soft fight) and same for Bute this Spring.

captainanddew wrote:

kbyte wrote:Well thats lame. Why reject a fight between two of the best super middles? Its a legit fight.

sounds like Showtime wants Bute/Ward and will not allow anyone to derail that fight. Ward will have a stay busy (relatively soft fight) and same for Bute this Spring.

Pointless. Bute does not need another soft touch; let him have Froch and build up the hype for the Ward fight. That's the fight that needs to happen.

In a way this is good as Bute isn't tied up in that two-fight deal. But it's hard to see what other decent fights are there for Bute in the meantime, especially if it has to be an American.

Horrible decision from Showtime, Ward wants to milk his trophy so Bute should be allowed to fight whoever he wants.

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:Horrible decision from Showtime, Ward wants to milk his trophy so Bute should be allowed to fight whoever he wants.

I agree, but it appears pretty clear. Showtime has looked around. No one wants to see Ward fight Kessler or Froch again(neither fight warranted a rematch). Showtime only wants the Ward vs Bute fight. So they are going to protect both guys so that the fight can be set up for this summer.

If this is how the new management at Showtime is going to do things, then boxing fans are in for some rough times. So 2 showtime broadcasts we are guaranteed this year (and there aren't that many!!!!!) are Ward vs safe opponent and Bute vs another(since he's had a few already) safe opponent.

Does Showtime realize boxing fans only have so many telecasts to enjoy a year? Or do they not give a fuck? Fuck them. We get roughly a dozen or so big telecasts on showtime and they are going to waste 2 matchups on stay busy fights. FUCK THEM!!!! Bunch of CUNTS!