People don't generally believe Ward could beat a prime Calzaghe do they?

lol

Thanks, same to you.

I fancy Stiverne to detonate a big overhand right on Wilder's Tiffany glass jaw at some point and win by stoppage. Although, a past it Ray Austin was able to out box Stiverne for a good portion of their fight from what I recall of it. So maybe Wilder might be able to use his height and reach to keep him at bay and do the same. Stiverne can really bang too and I think he can also take a much better punch too, hence why I fancy him to win. :good

 

'For the past two-plus years, super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute has gone about his business as the outsider. While six of the top 168-pounders -- eight when you include the two replacements -- were duking it out in the Super Six World Boxing Classic, Bute was on the outside longingly looking in.

Bute was clearly one of the top fighters in the division when former Showtime boxing chief Ken Hershman, who masterminded the tournament, declined to invite him to participate. That incorrect decision was a double-whammy for Bute. Not only was he left out of a tournament he obviously belonged in, but with so many of the division's top fighters tied up in the event, Bute's field of attractive opponents became that much smaller.


Lucian Bute is a 168-pound champ and star in his own right, but Andre Ward isn't giving him his due -- or, it seems, a fight in the near future.
So Bute made do with the opponents available. He defended his title six times during the course of the tournament, winning five bouts by knockout, as he defeated Librado Andrade (for the second time), Edison Miranda, Jesse Brinkley, Brian Magee, Jean Paul Mendy and Super Six replacement Glen Johnson, who was eliminated in the semifinals. That's a good, but hardly stellar, group.

But before the Super Six finally concluded Saturday night, with Andre Ward dominating Carl Froch to unify a pair of belts and claim the pure silver cup, Bute (30-0, 24 KOs) said he felt like it was Christmas and New Year's Eve all wrapped into one because, with the tournament finally ending, he and promoter Jean Bedard could finally be free to pursue a fight with the winner, which would obviously be the biggest fight in the division.

Bute and Bedard, who met with a handful of boxing media a few hours before the final, made it clear that their priority was the winner. The main reason Bute signed with Showtime in late 2010 was to position himself to face the winner, who is also tied to the network.

"I am ready to fight the winner," said Bute, a native of Romania based in Montreal, in his ever-improving English. "If Carl Froch wins, I'm ready to fight in Nottingham [England] to make this fight happen. And if it's Ward, I can go to Oakland."

Bute is a major draw in Montreal and Quebec City, so the money flows because his gates are so large. But he wants to fight in the United States, even if it means taking less money.

"I fought in Montreal only because I sold 15,000, 16,000 tickets and I receive no offer from any fighters to fight outside of Montreal or Quebec City," Bute said. "It's not because I don't want to fight outside [of Canada]."

Interbox's Bedard said Bute is willing to go on the road to boost his profile.

"What we want in 2012 is to have the best fights," Bedard said. "The Super Six was a great tournament, but for us, we were not invited. So we had to get the guys who were ready to come to fight Lucian. Lucian knows we draw a lot of people in Montreal or Quebec City, but he's ready to take a step back in terms of money to have the possibility to fight these guys in a neutral place like New York or Vegas, or even go to Nottingham or Oakland. We are open to all the scenarios to try to make it happen."


Sadly, it doesn't seem like Bute or boxing fans will get the fight they want. Ward showed little interest in Bute at his postfight media conference after his masterpiece against Froch. Sure, Ward earned the right to do what he wants after such a tough road in the Super Six, but it's still disappointing to hear.

"To be perfectly honest, no disrespect to Bute and his team, but they've sat back and they've fought B-level and C-level guys and he did what he was supposed to do," said Ward, failing to grasp that Bute wasn't invited to the Super Six and had no A-level opponents available to him. "He stopped them and he's gotten them out of there. But he's just been sitting back, waiting, while we've been fighting for the past two and a half years against top-level competition.

"So I don't have to go to Lucian Bute right now," Ward said. "We're going to sit back and I'm going to rest and we'll see what's next. I'm open for a Mikkel Kessler clash. I would love to get that rematch and settle that score, since he feels like it wasn't a legitimate victory [in the opening round of the tournament]. Going up to light heavyweight for the right fight -- not to campaign up there, but for the right fight -- is an option. So we've just got to sit back and see what makes sense. I think I earned the right to pick the right fight for the right price."

Rather than talk up a fight with Bute, Ward (25-0, 13 KOs) instead tried to play matchmaker, suggesting that Bute face the vanquished Froch, who has trash-talked Bute and riled up his Canadian fans over the past few years.

"That's a tremendous fight for Carl because I know Carl doesn't like Bute," Ward said. "To be perfectly honest, I think Bute has to beat somebody. I'm just gonna be frank with you: He has to beat somebody, an A-level guy, to get a shot. We'll sit back and talk as a team, but off the top of my head, he has to beat somebody. You can't sit back and just take your time while everyone else is working hard and you come in and get the same pay that everyone else gets. It don't work like that. This is a sport, but we also use our brains for business, and we'll sit down and make a solid business decision."



During the earlier session with the media, Bedard seemed to already know this was what Ward would say after the fight.

"I think it will be tougher to make a fight with Ward instead of Froch," Bedard said a few hours before the fight. "I think there is more of a story regarding Froch in Canada -- but you never know. For our fans in Canada, Froch has been talking against Lucian for the past five years, so it's a very easy fight to promote for us."

As it turns out, just a few days removed from Froch's loss there is already talk of a two-fight deal between Froch and Bute, with one bout taking place in England and one in Canada.

Still, Bute held out hope that he would get Ward.

"Priority is to fight the winner because I want to unify the titles," Bute said'

 

In an interview with Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, super middleweight world champion Andre Ward revealed that he's targeting a June 2 return in Oakland, but has no opponent in mind. He also stated that he wanted to fight Lucian Bute, which Bute's promoter Jean Bedard has all but laughed off in response.

Let's start with Ward's next fight. The June 2 date in Oakland should work, but it won't be against Bute, who faces Carl Froch on May 26. Nor will it be against Anthony Dirrell, it would seem. Dirrell, the brother of the more famous Andre Dirrell, is Ward's WBC mandatory. But Ward says he's not interested in that fight and would just vacate his belt, even though he called it "a good matchup." He claims that the TV networks won't be interested, which seems bizarre given that Showtime televised Dirrell's eliminator win over Renan St-Juste in December.

After immediately saying following his Super Six win in December that he wanted to take a break, Ward now seems shocked that Bute went ahead and signed a deal with Froch, the next-best option for him:

"I was disappointed," Ward said. "Bute and his promoter were screaming and yelling that I was ducking them, then they go and make a two-fight deal with Froch where if he loses, he takes Froch back to Canada? I didn't understand that. I was never ducking him, I just wanted to build up the fight. I was coming off two years of grueling fights and I felt he needed to fight someone. But ducking him? Come on. He wants belts, I have three belts over here if he wants to fight for a belt."

What a bizarre statement this is. Ward previously claimed that Bute needed to fight top competition, so with Ward not showing any legitimate desire for a fight, Bute went with Froch. I fail to see any problem there. As for "building up the fight," that's a load, plain and simple. That fight is as built as it's going to get. Andre Ward's not exactly packing in the fans for his fights or drawing a load of interest from the general public, and frankly he probably never will. He's not interesting enough, in or out of the ring. Maybe he's the next Bernard Hopkins, but B-Hop was never an A-side draw either. Still isn't, even though he's unquestionably headed to the Hall of Fame.

Bute's promoter Bedard took a humorous route in response. From ***********.com:

"It's like he was resurrected after Easter ... after all, his nickname is 'Son Of God.' When I first read [Ward's comments], I thought it was a joke. We never had any discussions with Andre Ward. In fact, we have not heard from him since December 18... If he wanted to fight Lucian, we might have already been one week away before the fight."

I'm really having trouble seeing a valid point from Andre Ward here. He said he wanted to take a break. Fine, he did that. What was Bute supposed to do? Wait for him to get a tune-up in and fight him this fall? Was Bute supposed to take a year off? And if they both win their next fights, what will the next excuse be?

 

Found this article on BoxingInsider

'Super Sick of Andre Ward’s Excuses'

Andre Ward, speaking with Elie Seckbach in a video uploaded March 29, 2011:

“Lucian Bute, man he’s doing a good job right now. He’s winning, he’s winning the way he’s supposed to win with the caliber of fighter that he’s fighting. That’s definitely somebody that after this tournament is over that should fight the Super Six winner. Because there’s too much argument; there’s too much confusion over who the best is. So the winner of this tournament should fight Lucian Bute for the Ring Magazine title.”

Note: Andre Ward won the Super Six tournament by defeating Carl Froch less than a year later, this past December 17, 2011.

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Shortly before his winning performance over Carl Froch, Andre had an interview with Ciaran Gibbons in a video uploaded on Dec 6, 2011:
“It may be a move up. It may be Lucian Bute…it just depends…”

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So Ward acknowledged Bute as being a guy he wanted…
A guy who deserves it…

Let’s go to an interview from June 2010 on On The Ropes Boxing Radio. Andre was asked who he would favor in the Super Six tournament if it weren’t him, but Lucian Bute in his place instead.
“I would have to have Bute and Dirrell as the top two guys on my list.”

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Ok, so if Bute is good enough to be considered better than anyone else in the Super Six besides himself or Andre Dirrell…why is it that now Bute is not an elite fighter?
Hmmm….well let’s now take a look at the kind of stuff Andre Ward has been saying as of late…

This was in an interview with Radio Rahim uploaded by Seconds Out on December 28, 2011 shortly after Andre won the Super Six, and is now contractually free to fight anyone he wants. You would think now would be the perfect time to fight Lucian Bute, no?
Rahim makes it clear that Andre has in the past called out Lucian Bute and asks him his thoughts on fighting Lucian next…

“Well Bute’s a good fighter. It’s hard to say how good he is until he fights A-level competition. That’s not a knock on him that’s just the reality. We’ve been able to do that. I don’t know the different nuances with the negotiations prior to the Super Six and why he wasn’t in the tournament, I just feel like he had his opportunity to be in the tournament and he chose to opt out and he’s kind of sat on the sidelines and fought a certain level of competition. He’s done what he’s supposed to do with that competition, he’s gotten them out of there, but he’s also had a period of rest when the combatants in the Super Six have been grinding for the past two and half years. I just think he needs to fight some tougher fights, fight some A level guys and I think eventually the fight will be made.”

Note: It’s well known to everybody in boxing (except for Andre Ward apparently) that Lucian Bute was never, ever, at any point, ever….ever offered to fight in the Super Six.

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I guess now that since Lucian Bute is available and willing, and now that Ward himself isn’t obligated to any fights…
…we need excuses as to why Bute doesn’t deserve to fight him.
Yes, the same guy who Ward called out years ago (when the fight couldn’t be made contractually); the same guy who Ward would had favored over just about any of his other opponents he had to “grind” against over two years; the same guy who he flat out said DESERVES to fight the winner of the Super Six………..
now needs to prove himself against the A-Level.
Well Andre, you’re an A-Level fighter. You’re also not contractually obligated. You’re also an American, something that Showtime has requested for Bute’s next fight (the last of HIS contract on Showtime.
Will you step up? Or will you take a cue from the opening line of Bute’s U2 ring entrance?
“I want to run, I want to hide…”