Who will be the first to take down Bute?

Self-explanatory. I'm a Bute fan btw, I'm using reverse bias.

Who do you think will take the zero off of Bute's record?

Kessler: assuming he comes back healthy, times Bute and stays on the outside

Froch: roughs up Bute in a brawl, or uses his dinosaur range and awkward style to box him up

Ward: uses variety and masters range, grinds the inside up and jabs frequently on the outside

Dirrell: outside fight, with Dirrell landing more often, speed makes the whole difference

Johnson: huge sparring history between the two, maybe the Road Warrior would exploit what he's been noticing as flaws over the years

Hopkins: somebody already made a thread about it, there must be some hope for it to happen...

Dawson: comes out blazing against Bute and against all odds making a splendid comeback and avenging his loss to Pascal afterwards

Martinez: tough fight with Martinez countering Bute using his superior mobility, Maravilla wins if Bute can't time him for hard body shots

Pavlik: somebody already mentioned Bute in the Pavlik comeback thread...

Golovkin: the wild card. That's if Bute beats all SMWs on his path until GGG climbs up a division to meet the man he ko'ed in the amateurs...

 

Ha.

AA could have been there, but I chose Golovkin instead... really, just for the heck of it.

 

Alright, so H2H you have Ward over Bute. Glad to hear Ward has schooled southpaws in the past.

Call me crazy, but Ward's toughness hasn't been tested that much so far. Kessler didn't land lots on him, and Bika didn't land enough -even in the clinch- to pretend Ward got roughed up to the body/head and responded well.

I think he walks into Bute's uppercuts, assuming he is to remain true to this ram-in-grind-up style of his. If he boxes Bute from the outside as he did for a portion of the fight vs Kessler, he could score enough to win most rounds - that's if Bute doesn't adapt and start cutting the ring. Bute murders Ward @ mid-range.