He could surprise us. He seems to have improve his skill set by a good margin. He also put together a nice winning streak so his confidence most be pretty high. Bute has been fighting the same kind of opponents for a while now. Brinkley will present a different style then Bika, Berrio, Andrade & Miranda. I'm not saying he will win. But he might do better then people expect for a few rounds (until Bute figure him out). The main problem that Brinkley is going to have is distance. He is a very small super middleweight. He will most likely look like a midget next to Bute.
By the way, It's been a while but didn't Reid give Froch quite a bit of problem 8 months after fighting Brinkley? If I remember correctly he landed some pretty good right hands and even wobbled Froch once or twice. Perhaps he wasn't THAT shot after all. :tong
Hopefully he doesn't. Bute is in a lose/lose situation. He's gonna have to look spectacular against Brinkley otherwise people will criticize him.
Do you think Brinkley will try to go inside against Bute? If he gives Bute distance he'll be Ko'ed under 5.
I saw the fight and Robin Reid didn't exactly give Froch trouble as I recall... Reid rallyed a bit in the fourth though. Reid was knocked down once took a knee twice and retired in his corner before the sixth round. Not exactly giving Froch trouble is that?