Lucian Bute vs. Librado Andrade coming up on Friday

I have never seen anyone tie up Andrade successfully. He is at his best when the fight is on the inside. To tie him up, you have to catch him, and to catch him, you have to get past his constant punching as you come in. Bute should try and keep it on the outside as much as possible, I think. If he's in trouble, he should box and move, rather than try and tie Andrade up or spoil the fight.

I agree that he won't hurt Andrade with one punch. No one could. But if he has an opening to the body, he can and will hurt Andrade.

 

Yes, it was a great punch and he was caught cold. He recovered very well and finished the round very strongly. Mack made the mistake of trying to knock him out for the rest of the fight with headshots, but Andrade was nicely warmed up by then, and he took it all without much trouble.

 

Bute is not good enoug to beat Andrade easily. I suspect no one is, anymore, not even Kessler. If you watch the Kessler fight, for example, you will see that even though he won almost every round, he had to fight hard to do so. By the end, Kessler was fighting just to keep Andrade off him, shooting off his jab not to attack him or break him down, but to stop him for a split second, in his advance. It was Kessler's hardest fight, physically. Andrade's improved since then and will come in better prepared and focussed. It will certainly not be an easy fight for Bute.

 

I've read Bute say he feels some added pressure to impress and make it an exciting fight because it will be shown on Showtime, in the USA. Does anyone agree with me that this kind of strategy could play right into Andrade's hands? Could it make the difference?

 

2 pm local time. Don't know where.