The Ring got it right. Ward deserves his ranking for beating Kessler who was the consensus #1 smw at the time - something Bute has never achieved. The Ring had it wrong previously, but they have righted their error. Don't worry this will all get settled very soon when Showtime puts Bute in the ring with Ward because the Lucian train gets derailed violently that night.
How can I be back pedalling when saying right from the start that they werent big wins, and gimmes. But what I have said is they add depth in names as Joppy is a recognised name as a former MW champ, and with Brinkley I said how he won an eliminator, but would add that he to was a recognised name due to being on the contender series. What cant you understand about that atsch. Read below.
How can The Ring have Bute at #1 and after beating Bika less impressively be promoted to #1? Dosent make sense You have to base ratings on results. Froch has a better resume than Bute and Ward, but lost to Kessler who Ward beat, so cant be above Ward. Bute is undefeated and has a better overall resume than Ward, so should be rated higher. Now Froch has a better resume than Bute but cant be rated above due to above. If the rating werent based on victories but on resumes than Kessler would still be #1 after a loss etc, but it dosent work that way. It is based on results Ward resume - Kessler Good win Miranda Green Bika isnt overall better than Butes resume - Andrade x2, who is a fighter that has done more than Green, Bika or Miranda Bika Berrio Brinkley Zuniga Joppy Miranda Mock Salem
1 - Ward (but hes pretty much living off of beating Kessler, I have no problem with other people not having him number one off of one win, when plenty of the other fighters resume, including Frochs, is much deeper) 2 - Froch 3 - Kessler 4 - Dirrell 5 - Bute 6 - Johnson 7 - AA the rest.
How could you have Froch above Kessler? Froch lost to Kessler and has had only one fight since against a fighter coming off a loss
How can you have Dirrell above Bute? Is it because of this fight: http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:1200020 ? Dirrell on a bicycle against Curtis Stevens! He, of the "lost eliminator to Jesse Brinkley" fame!!!
I fully agree, that its not a very good resume. But overall it is better than just one name. Ward has one good win over a double vision suffering already beaten Kessler. Thats it. Green isnt a big name win Bika who ward beat more impressively Miranda who ward beat more impressively. That leaves Green and Kessler on Wards resume Now Bute has beaten Berrio which is a better win than Green. Now 2 wins over Andrade, Mock, Salem, Brinkley, Joppy, Zuniga, although arent the most impressive wins 7 are overall better combined than a win over an unwell Kessler. Then note that Berrio is a better win than Green as is Andrade. Its only fair to rate Bute above Ward as their common opponents Bute beat more impressively also
...HOw froch gonna be number one he lost to dirrel would have lost to abraham if dirrlel didnt teach him how to beat him
Bute's problem is that he wins too impressively. His opponents are underrated afterwards because of how bad he beats them. Take Andrade. He only lost to peak Kessler and Bute. Otherwise, has some good wins. Beat Tsypko in April 09, while Taylor was being sparked by Froch. Should have been in the Super 6, instead of "coming off 3 losses with win over shot Jeff Lacy in the middle" Jermain Taylor. Or instead of "my best win is Miranda at middleweight" Arthur Abraham. In fact, what if Librado had been in, instead of Abraham? Abraham would have moved up to 168 and taken on Bute. Lucian would have beat him up worse than Froch did and put him down in the 9th or 10th round. Everyone here would say Abraham was **** and would put a :rofl next to Arthur's name when listing Bute's resume.
Froch didnt lose to Dirrell atsch. It was a fight that could be interpreted different ways, but both Boxing News and The Ring magazine saw Froch as the winner
I understand what you are saying, and the part about Abraham is quite correct, this is due to over hype. Something I constantly note. I dont think Bute has really fought anyone of real note, but has dealt with most of them as he should. Most of the guys Bute has beaten were fighters who had lost with a blueprint on how to beat them impressively. He looked lucky not to get KOd by Andrade in their first fight, which is a fight where Kessler showed the way.
Yes, he was just surviving at the end of the Andrade1 fight. He usually finishes strong. Someone around here posted about how ill he was feeling before the fight and how he'd been advised to postpone it. Still, there is no controversy about the result. He was on the floor with 5 seconds remaining and got up in 8 seconds. He was in no position to continue, but there was nothing to continue. The fight was over. It would have been an outrage had they NOT gone to the cards. I think an important thing about his matchups is, as you said, that he "has dealt with most of them as he should." He showed his overwhelming superiority by beating them up real bad and putting them down. Ward couldn't do that. He couldn't dispatch either Miranda, nor Green. It's likely that he wouldn't have KOed Brinkley, either. Andrade, totally out of the question.
I would have trouble guessing a winner of Bute vs Ward. Ward fights dirty in close and Bute prefers to keep it at more of a range. Still this is about the Rings odd ranking change. As well as Ward being put above Bute, I cant understand how they have Froch in front of Kessler when Kessler beat Froch and Froch has only had one fight since beating a fighter coming off a loss