Could Lucian Bute have already hit his prime and slowly be edging past it...

Hmm I see the troll attempt (300 count, Bute being 35 for his first real fight, fighting 52 years old Hopkins), but I'll ignore them and answer like the civilised forumer I am.

He MIGHT be past his prime but I don't think so. He's got a Hopkins-like lifestyle, doing nothing more than train/eat/sleep. Besides, he haven't been in wars that could reduce his prime time. So I guess not.

Well it isn't like his post is objective. Do you think it is? I sure do not.

Don't know, I mean, yeah he's really massive for his weight, but from what I hear, he has no problem to do the limit yet. Like you say, 2-3 more fights at 168 (if he can get someone to fight him) and then he should go up at 175.

So, I guess the weight shouldn't be a problem for him.

 

Exactly! That's why I feel he can retire at 168 if he really wants that.

 

I say the same thing about a lot of fighters though, look at chad dawson, almost 30 years old now.

There arent too many fighers achieving much of note at a young age no more

 

Lucian and Pac suffer from the same disease, their team are true dickheads. Bute should leave his coward & fearful promoter as soon as he has the opportunity to.

 

He probably has 3 maximum 4 fights left at 168.

 

I always felt Froch was past his best when he won his first world title.
Bute could be on the way down, but I havent noticed him slipping yet. I get the impression Wards team want to let him get a bit older while they have more time on their side.
Calzaghe was past his best when beating Lacy and Kessler. Calzaghe had slipped but was still the best SMW and I feel Bute could be exactly the same.
Some fighters age far better than others and I think Bute is far fresher than Froch and probably Kessler

 

I made a similar thread about Froch 2/3 years ago. I felt his prime was vs Pascal, past that he always looked slow even for his standards.

 

Problem with Calzaghe when asked these questions was that because he remained undefeated people still think of him as prime when he retired.
I personally think his physical prime was around the 2000-2002 sort of time. Some performances werent pretty, but he was hard to beat then.
I felt Calzaghe had slipped around the 04 sort of time but still produced good performances like when he beat top 10 world rated SMW and WBO interim SMW champ Veit for the second time in 05.
His boxing prime I think is harder to guess because Calzaghe tended to fight to the level of his competition alot of times


With Froch I felt he was a much better boxer when younger and earlier in his career and noticably faster then.

I think Kessler never looked the same around the Perdermo fight. I remember reading comments there that he seemed suddenly easier to hit and rusty

With Bute the he may have slipped and we all havent seen it yet?

 

OK,I forget in a decision.

 

You have to have a noteworthy accomplishment in your career before you can hit your prime. I hope to god beating a 50 year Johnson in a tough fight is not his prime.

 

It's not Froch they're talking about. It's Bute.

 

If he truly fought to his level opposition, considering the bums he fought most of his career, I can only thank god most of those fights were not televised in the US.

 

:deal