Quebec fighter Lucian Bute may have been left off the dancecard for the Showtime super middleweight tournament, but he'll have a chance to forge his own path if he's successful in a rematch Saturday night against Librado Andrade.
It's a moderate-sized if. Bute is the favourite, and should be, but was literally out on his feet at the end of the first bout between the two men in October 2008. He outboxed the rugged Mexican Andrade impressively for the first 11 rounds but found himself gassed in the final round. Had the bout gone another 20 seconds even, he would have been done.
Bute fell over once from exhaustion, and then was dropped by Andrade. Referee Marlon Wright made the very curious decision to choose that juncture to warn Andrade about being too far out of the neutral corner, buying Bute some crucial seconds. For an analogous situation, Julio Cesar Chavez was much further across the ring for his somewhat similar ending against Meldrick Taylor than Andrade, and was never warned.
For the good of boxing and the appearance of propreity, hopefully the Quebec commission will see fit to give Wright a rest in the rematch.
Bute will get a chance to defend his IBF title and show his skills to what will likely be the biggest TV audience to see him south of the border, with HBO coming to Canada for the first time in more than a quarter-century to broadcast the fight, along with a Joan Guzman-Ali Funeka undercard fight. Colisee Pepsi is just about sold out for the occasion, according to reports.
Even though he's on the outside of the 168-pound tournament, there are still several name opponents out there to prevent good paydays should Bute prevail. They include the winner of next month's Bell Centre rematch between provincial fighters Jean Pascal and Adrian Diaconu, Allen Green, the winner of a possible fight between Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams, possibly one of the two octogenarians set to fight - Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones.
In a way, the first Andrade bout could help Bute in attracting big opponents. He's talented, with good movement and combination punching, but doesn't have huge one-punch power and certainly isn't intimidating. Of course, they said the same thing about Joe Calzaghe years back and he never lost.
Bute is nearing 30, so now is the time to make a bid for a larger imprint on the sport. He can start that with an asterisk-free rematch win over Andrade.
Manny fans thinkskinned
A few commenters to last week's blog didn't care for my description of Manny Pacquiao's TKO win over Miguel Cotto in boxing's biggest superfight this year. I wasn't giving Manny any credit, they said.
Let's recap. I chose him as my 2008 Fighter of the Year. I will again pick him for fighter of the year in a few weeks and the Cotto win will in all likelihood be my performance of the year nod. It was pretty much guaranteed in May that Pacquiao would be the winner of my - and everyone ele's - KO of the year (it never gets old to watch).
Guys, what gives? Do I need to declare absolute fealty to the Filipino superstar?
What raised their hackles? Although I said there was no asterisk to the win whatsoever I had the nerve to suggest that Cotto isn't the same fighter he was 2 years ago just after beating Shane Mosley (primarily - owing to the beatdown he took against Antonio Margarito, who may have loaded his gloves).
Apparently stating that fact - which is painfully obvious to any objective boxing fans - besmirched Manny's win in their eyes. Not at all. It doesn't mean Manny didn't impressively grind down a damned talented fighter in there. Even after the beating Pacquiao laid on him, Cotto could still beat a few contenders. Manny's responsibility is to mow down who's put in front of him and he did once again on Nov. 14 - against the toughest, biggest opponent he's ever faced.
Fighter of the Blog
Andre Ward dominated Mikkel Kessler to close out the first round of the Showtime super middleweight tournament last weekend. The American outboxed Kessler, switched stances and looks, pounded him to the head and body, and won a technical decision late when the Dane was cut by headbutts.
Ward got a little sloppy in the last couple rounds - he should have been penalized for the butts, they weren't intentional but were reckless. It was an even more impressive performance than when Calzaghe decisioned Kessler by about three or four points in 2007. It's one thing to have 50,000 crazy Welshmen yelling with every punch you throw, like Calzaghe did, but Ward absolutely punished Kessler, who had no plan B. Being totally charitable you could give him two out of 10 completed rounds.
Kessler disappointed with his performance and shamed himself after. He refused to give Ward any credit, instead choosing to focus on the butts and some moderate Ward holding that went on in the ring, which were minor factors but certainly not the game changer. Kessler was a step behind almost from the jump.
Kessler even said he'd have to consider if he wanted to continue in the tournament. He'll likely wake up one day soon and be motivated to make up for this turkey, and his next opponent, Briton Carl Froch is beatable. Froch has none of Ward's fluidity, has been knocked down or shaken in two of his last three fights, and throws wide punches that can be easily countered by a classic European-style boxer like Kessler.
But what he seems to have in spades over Kessler, judging by Saturday night's intractableness and whining afterward - is unbelievable mental toughness.
And in boxing, that goes a long way.
Source: cbc.ca
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