Lucian Bute has been out of the public eye since his crunching defeat at the hands of Carl 'the Cobra' Froch in Nottingham back in May. Froch took Bute's lunch as well as his titles and unbeaten record in a one-sided demolition job. Now Bute's promoters Interbox have unveiled that Lucian will be returning back to action against NABF Light-heavy champion Denis Grachev. Grachev is largely unknown, but your mind will be jogged when I tell you this is the guy who de-railed the Ismayl Sillakh hype train in glorious fashion. Grachev was largely outboxed but caught up with his man in the 8th round and clubbed him into a referee stoppage situation. The unheralded Russian now resides in San Diego and has an unbeaten record of 12-0 (8ko) so is pretty inexperienced in comparison to Lucian Bute at 30-1 (24ko). Grachev is a plodding pressure fighter. What he lacks in speed and movement he makes up with durability and doggedness. He is also a former International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) Muay Thai Light Cruiserweight Championship and former International Karate Kickboxing Council champion. The fight will likely be a 12-round affair with Bute utilising his height and range to control the action and stay out of harm's way. But I forecast Grachev could give the former Romanian a tough night if he eeks past the 8th round. A win over Grachev at 175lb will give Bute a foothold into the Light-heavyweight rankings, were I believe he will likely remain. His car crash experience with Froch, arguably his first elite Super Middleweight foe, will have seriously dented the likeable Bute's confidence.
Hopefully it was just an extremely bad bad day at the office for him and his career will resume from the setback. But the foray into the higher division could see him consider remaining there. Sure, he has a lucrative rematch clause with Froch - but will he take it or move on with trying to avenge the loss ?
he cant make froch rematch him for the ibf super middleweight title at 175, so not a very good tactic
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Official-Carl-Froch/151903634319?ref=ts. Thinks its at 175 and the live fight article does as well
Good fight I think. Weird how some people gave him a pass for fighting bums yet not being happy with this. He's not a world beater by any means but he's got a good win over Sillakh.... and just by looking at him it's clear that he's better than the likes of Mendy and Brinkley. I'd leave the Froch rematch and just look to rebuild at 175. He's still a good fighter and can come back strong. Someone that's awkward whilst technically sound (to a point) and tough... always has a chance. I was surprised how fragile he was, Carl isn't exactly murderous, is he?
I think the pressure got to Bute, although I doubt he would win if they fought again, I eckon he has the potential to make it a tough fight. An amazing performance from Froch too... maybe this is just Bute testing the waters, to see if a couple of lbs will help his performance, before moving all the way to 175
