Ward's impressive victory I'd agree but if he KOs Andrade I don't see how you couold rank him under Kessler or Abraham.
Bute was already the #2 or #3 of the division so he wouln't be the top "suddenly". I don't hink we know who is the man of the division. And if Bute does well during the super 6, the winner may be the top man but until he faces Bute, it will never be for sure.
And Norway is not far from Denmark. You are depressed since Saturday night. So, make me laugh, who is in front ob Bute? Kessler? :rofl
Bute isn't "The Man", but he's number 1 in my SMW rankings for the time being, and likely to be #1 in the Ring ratings as well. Obviously, he could drop if he looks bad against Andrade. I guess it COULD happen, but I find it hard to believe that with Kessler losing, the winner of the Super Six will end up being lineal champ at 168. I suppose that if two of Ward, Froch or Abraham meet in the finals undefeated, then the championship could be for THE championship, but I doubt it will happen. If that's the case, and Bute remains undefeated (and honestly, if he gets past Andrade, there isn't anyone else out there at SMW that's not in the Super Six right now who could), then the winner and Bute would need to face each other to determine a new lineal champ. I feel like Bute's resume gets underrated though. Andrade, Bika, Berrio and Zuniga were all top 10 guys when Bute beat them, and Andrade and Bika have gone on to have other good wins since then to prove they weren't flukes. No, he doesn't have a marquee win, but there's never been an opportunity for him to get one. When he first won the belt, Calzaghe and Kessler were the big names, and they were tied up with each other. Then, Calzaghe moved up and there weren't any other belt holders. Froch didn't become a name until he beat Taylor, and after that he got involved in the Super Six. Abraham was at 160. Kessler was stuck in contract disputes with his promoter. Green ducked him twice. He wasn't invited to the Super Six. When it comes to scheduling, I feel like he's gotten screwed more than just about any fighter out there. Hopefully that can change once the Super Six is over.
oh no!!! nono I was hoping it was him, so I would be rooting for Bute and chanting: MARLON! MARLON! Just like 8 thousand canucks did in the last fight!!!!!!!!
No, they have not. Froch offered him a unification fight and Bute wanted no part of the WBC champ. We do not know for certain but apparently, he wanted no part of the S6 either. Things have worked out nicely for him. He gets to hold onto his bauble and generate wads of cash for himself by fighting below par opposition in front of his home fans as the big boys of the division occupy themselves by fighting each other over the course of the next 16 months. Bute will then be in a position to fight the winner of the S6 and have a shot at being the unified IBF, WBA and WBC SM Champion of the World by only fighting one top fighter in his division. It's the French-Canadian Joe Calzaghe.
-Froch refused a title eliminator with him in 2007.No one mentions this since no one knew who Froch was at the time. -Ken Hirschman of Showtime has confirmed he wasn't invited to participate in S6 so we do know for sure. -Truth of the matter is unless the S6 works in one way you can't have an undisputed champion with out fighting Bute if he is still undefeated by then.
Now that I've seen all six of the tourney fighters in recent action, I have Bute at #1 in the division on a head to head basis. Sauerland's master plan was Kessler/Abraham in the final, and that is why Bute and Pavlik were not asked to participate. Sauerland simply did not invite any fighter he thought might beat one or both of his guys. Obviously The Head Butter fouled up Sauerland's master plan last Saturday night, but that was unexpected. Bute and/or Pavlik would have been a lock to make the finals, and Sauerland knew that ahead of time. I'm anxious to see Lucian clear up the so called controversy. The simple fact is that Andrade came out of the neutral corner during the count, and the ref followed the rules by stopping the count until he returned. Even though the controversey has been over blown it did leave some questions, but I have few reservations about what the answers will be. As far as a Bute/Pavlik fight next year, I hope it happens. There is a lot of cross over amongs fans of these two fighters, and there are a number of really good posters on both sides of the argument. It should produce some great debates and an awesome fight. For now, I'm all about WAR BUTE!!! But, if Bute/Pavlik gets made:nono
Andrade beat current beltholder Stieglitz, and wiped out Tsypko, who most thought beat Lacy and who was a top 20 SMW at the time. Bika went on to win the contender tournament (beating Soliman and Codrington in the process) and then wiped the floor with Manfredo, who's a top 20 guy. Both are still ranked in the Ring top 10. Bika has also had bad luck with scheduling though. Allan Green pulled out of a fight with him, and Anthony Mundine blatantly ducked him. They were negotiating, but it probably fell through BECAUSE of the Super Six. Froch would have needed to have brain damage to take a Bute fight over that opportunity. Froch was offered more money to fight for longer, and he went after that instead. Hennessy and Interbox were in the middle of supposedly negotiating when news of the tournament was leaked. Of course Froch went for the better opportunity. No blame lies with either Froch or Bute for that one. Where does this come from? This is pure conjecture that has been invented by the Bute haters. The only official news anywhere was that Bute wasn't invited. There are a number of reasons for this. First, Canada doesn't generate as much money as the US or Germany. Second, Bute already had an HBO fight with Andrade scheduled, and Showtime didn't want to interfere with HBO's contract. Third, if they had invited Bute and Andrade, then it would have made things much more difficult with the promoters (GBP thinks it's a big swinging dick - it's VERY intentional that no GBP or Top Rank fighter was invited to be in the tournament). I guess you can look at it that way. He's not complaining too hard about it, I won't deny that. But I do think it's unfortunate that he'll have to either fight scrubs or rematch guys he's already beaten for the next year and a half while he waits for the S6 to finish.
**** yeah! rematches are often boring (too defensive), but you know what? these guys are both bangers and have balls of steel - might be a classic!