Remember when people thought Bute could beat Ward?

like I keep saying, you earn your shot at the champion

 

I'll keep saying what really happened. Ward didn't want any part of Bute.
No fights, no paydays, no cleaning out the division, no unification, no doing what he said he would do...just promoter speak, bull**** and excuses.:verysad

 

Weird to see some backpedaling from the Ward fans. Even they weren't happy that Ward was passing the buck on the Ring's #2 wanting to fight him anywhere, anytime. Ward actually sounded like a matchmaker at the Froch post-fight conference. Froch took his chance at world level redemption when he nodded in approval... styles make fights, Bute has always had an edge over Froch in who would have the best arsenal to deal with Ward.

 

maybe so, but bute has only stepped up once and failed badly
its bad form to call out a high SMW ranking for bute when he never took part in the super six, and certainly didn't do anything during it to warrant a free pass to fight ward

 

Goosen kept Bute out of the S6 by threatening to boycott the tournament if Showtime allowed Bute in.

The original participants were all free to sign with Showtime, EXCEPT Bute.

The clause in the contract said that all substitutes must be approved by all remaining fighters.

Goosen vetoed Bute. PERIOD.:nono

 

There are trash that still believe he could beat Ward. First class ******s like Beastsideboxing and timeoff/timeout.

 

fair call. I didn't know that
nonetheless, bute was a fighter with a poor US profile and a padded record
it wouldn't have been fair to give him a direct shot at the champion when a number of fighters had just spent many months aiming for the same goal

fighting froch was a fair compromise

 

You know, if Bute UD's Pascal and Ward moves to LHW sometime in 2014 after his Chavez Jr payday, Bute would be a decent intro fight at the weight. We could actually see this **** happen next year.

 

:good

 

Bute gives Ward a better fight than Froch or Kessler.

 

we may find out at LHW..and you're probably right

 

People keep saying this but before the super 6 did Kessler or Ward really have much better resumes? OK Kessler had fought Calzaghe but he lost that anyway.

 

I hope Ward goes to LHW at some point even if Bute turns out to be done because at SMW there is only Groves and GGG (if he moves) up left. It would be good to find out if Ward is good enough to become the man at 175 as well.

 

Kessler fought better opposition before fighting calzaghe, but (as you said) that doesn't matter since calzaghe beat him
ward wasn't on many people's radar before the super six at all

IMO, the reason he got so many hometown fights is because the promoters were more interested in negotiating hometown advantage against opponents they saw as bigger threats

 

Bute was widely consider the #1 SMW in the world before the tourney started. He was however, SIGNED under contract by HBO.

When Showtime started the tournament, he quickly fulfilled his contract with HBO and signed a HUGE deal with Showtime to be an alternate in the S6.

Showtime gambled thinking that b/c he was a huge draw, and often gave fighters career paydays, the other promoters would jump at the idea of going to Montreal for a career payday and a chance to beat the #1.
They all did. Everyone wanted Bute and his HUGE $$$$$. All except Ward. Goosen is a master at maneuvering. He knew only Dirrel and Bute could potentially beat Ward at SMW. He somehow managed to avoid Dirrel in the tourney and boycotted Bute.:-(