He's already LOST by not being invited to the tournament despite clearly being in the top six Super Middles.
There is nothing wrong with Bute having to rematch Andrade because Andrade had Bute out on his feet at the end of that fight. And in that context it shows you that Bute will not be missed from the tournament when you consider Andrade's prior fight with Kessler. Kessler had previosuly treated Andrade like a rag doll when they fought, but Andrade in turn was too much for Bute who got lucky he had the help of a hometown ref.
You got to adknowledge the fact that Bute was leading 10 rounds to 1 prior to the last round. That said, Bute was in fact exhausted and need to correct something from his training so he doesn't gas out in the last round. In fact, he should learn from Kessler victory: jab, jab, jab.
It's too soon to say that Bute is loosing because he's not in Showtime tournament. You never know, someone could injured himself in the first round or drop out and leave a place for Bute to grab. And if Bute impress on HBO, you could see Bute against Pavlik for big bucks. And if he wins against Pavlik, his stock will rise just the same as if he was part of the tournament...
Lots of 'ifs' in there:yep If someone gets injured If HBO are impressed If he wins against pavilk.......plus......IF he has the bottle to face Pavilk?
Bute is regarded by many people to be the 2nd best SM in the world. There's a reason for that and it dosen't point towards him being a coward. I sincerely doubt he refused to enter the tournament as he'd make good money and have great exposure. Not only that, but some of you are making out that he'll have no good fights to make whilst the tournament is in progress, but he'll have ample amount of fighters to choose from. Balszay, Pavlik, Dawson, Green, Andrade, Bika, Inkin etc. If he maintains his impressive run, then he'll be sure to fight the eventual winner of this tournament.
Everything in life come with an «if»...same thing in boxing. On paper, Showtime's tournament seems great but something could go wrong...Not that I wish it would!
I'd dispute he's the 2nd best 168er in the world, but he's certainly in the top six. Bute DIDN'T refuse to take part in the Super Six, he wasn't asked!! This is the whole point of the original post. Why wasn't he invited? To me the answer is obvious
Because the Andrade fight was in november (Andrade still healing an elbow injury) and Showtime didn't want to wait until 2010 for a first round match-up. Point blank.
No need to fight Andrade in the first place other than hanging on to a meaningless belt. Surely much better to have 3-5 guaranteed fights against the best SMiddles in the world??????
If any body shot them self in the food it was Bute, promoter, trainer and fans who constantly denied any controversy in the Andrade fight. An instantly rematch would have been huge and boxing fans cried for it, but now nobody really care. Bute and Andrade deserved to be in the super six though and would have guaranteed for some real exiting match up!.
When Bute and Froch were trying to make a fight, did anyone try to call Bute at Showtime, just to say that they were working on the idea of a tournament at 168? Probably not because, they were already thinking of 3 americans fighters et 3 europeans. Because the talks about the tournament started between Chris Meyer of Sauerland and Hershman of Showtime, Abraham was automatically in it. And if the talks to buy Kessler contract from Mogens Palle were at an advance stage, Kessler was also in it. You have one seat left for a fighter from Europe. And I have a question for you. Is Bute a European fighter or a North american fighter? IMO, Showtime sees him has a guy from Europe even tho all his professional bouts have been (except for one in Romania) in North America... That being said, Froch last fight was more exciting than the dismantling of Zuniga by Bute. So Showtime goes for Froch, leaving Bute out of the picture. A fight with Froch doesn't work, the tournament isn't announced yet and Bute want to fight and think a lot about the way his last fight with Andrade ended. So they agree with Golden Boy for a rematch on November 28 and now, Bute is really out of the picture, for 2009 that is. I don't think Bute dodged anyone, it was just bad luck for him...
Bute hasn`t beeen invited cause of the promoters. Who are ward . direll and even taylor now?BUTE DECLARED HE WANT TO GO IN ENGLAND AFTER FROCH.Tha agreement failed because of the tournament.You`re young and ignorant.The fact you consider Bute is the main prove he`s somebody.
There was no agreement to fight Froch in England. There was an OFFER, and a very substantial offer at that, but Bute turned it down. This was a chance for him to make some serious money and unify to IBF and WBC titles. Instead he chose to defend against a fighter he's already beaten, and at the time it was agreed the rematch was to be on the undercard of Mayweather v Marquez. It was at this point that Showtime realised that Bute wasn't interested in fighting the best in the divsion, possibly away from home, so they didn't invite him, despite the addtional interest in Canada and Romania that his participation would have bought, at the expense of one of the two unknown(except to hardcore boxing fans) Americans. And yes, I know that Bute v Andrade is a nice fight for the fans, but it's DEFINATELY not as good as at least three(maybe even five) fights like Bute v Froch, Bute v Kessler, Bute v Jermain Taylor etc