~~~The Lightning Lucian Bute Battleship~~~

Just learned That Bute is almost my neibor!! I can get to his place in a 5 min walk, I'm surprise I never met him on the street...
anyways my ticket is good, 20th row, just in front of the ring....can't wait!!

 

Yeah he lives on Jarry Street. lol

Here is another video for you guys from rds.ca.

http://www.rds.ca/video/visionneuse.html?video=4493

 

Undefeated Lucian Bute faces his biggest, most dangerous fight on Friday when he challenges Colombian banger Alejandro Berrio for the IBF 168-pound title in Montreal.
Romanian-born Bute has the home advantage but this is unlikely to worry Berrio, who went to Germany to win the title when he blew out another previously unbeaten boxer, Robert Stieglitz, in the third round.
That was the second successive fight in which Berrio pounded a betting favourite who had never lost, having previously demolished the classy Yusaf Mack in six rounds. Now he attempts to do it again.
Berrio, 31, could do it, too. He might be the best pure puncher in the 168-pound division. The Colombian can really hit, as shown by the 25 KOs in his 26 wins.
So this is a high-risk fight for Bute, even though the sportsbooks have him as the solid favourite.
Bute has a lot going for him, though. Slightly taller than Berrio at 6ft 2ins, Bute is a southpaw with stylish moves and good speed of hand and foot, a sound technician who had an extensive amateur background. Berrio is the puncher in the fight, but Bute can hit, too (16 opponents stopped in his 20 consecutive wins).
Each man will have to be careful. Bute's trainer, Stephane Larouche, feels that if his man simply fights his fight and doesn't make silly mistakes he will be the winner.
Berrio's punching power is very well known, whereas Bute has been the distance in four of his last five wins. However, Larouche told me that Bute was wearing the Winning brand of gloves, which Manny Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach once scornfully referred to as "pillows". For Friday's fight the Reyes "puncher's" gloves will be worn.
Trainer Larouche said over the phone from Montreal on Tuesday: "I think that if Lucian does his own fight he should have no problem grabbing that belt right here in his hometown. Berrio is a hard puncher from both sides — but I’ve noticed that every time he’s succeeded is when people are bringing the fight to him. If you look at the fight with Yusaf Mack, Mack could outbox the guy all night but he did not. People are thinking that they’re going to wear him down, but he’s in good shape and he sets up his power punches quite efficiently.
“I think that overall we’ve got the tools to keep him off balance and create our openings. We know Berrio’s power, so it’s going to be a matter of discipline and winning the fight one minute at a time and one round at a time.
“The two fighters will be wearing Reyes gloves, so it’s gonna be punching gloves, the first time in the last four or five bouts that Lucian is not wearing the Winning gloves.
“Lucian has been preparing with quality fighters, heavy-handed guys, and I can see he’s peaked over the last couple of weeks and improved his quality in the ring. He’s been hurting big guys in the gym with 16-ounce and 18-ounce gloves.”
Larouche stopped short of saying that he expects Bute to stop Berrio, but he did say that he believes his fighter will be doing damage by the middle rounds, once he is into the flow of the fight. As he put it: “When you look at Lucian’s record he’s very effective from rounds to four to six. The strategy we’re building up is somewhere around there — warm up and then, ready to rumble.”
Berrio has been stopped four times, of course, twice early in his career, while the referee did seem to come in a bit quickly when the Colombian lost to Robert Stieglitz in the 11th round of their first meeting in Germany.
Although Berrio lost in the opening round to the heavy-hitting Eric Mitchell in his first bout in the U.S., in March 2003, it seems he was caught cold, which can hapen to anyone. I am told that Berrio stood up to some big shots before knocking out Syd Vanderpool in brutal fashion a couple of years ago to end the Canadian southpaw’s career.
As a rule a boxer’s chin does not improve, but I understand that Berrio underwent strength training in Miami, and in his last two fights he certainly had a much stronger look than when he first started boxing in America.
Berrio is a fighter who likes to put pressure on his opponents, but in an educated way. Loose and relaxed, he switches smoothly to a southpaw stance and he is a good body puncher, sometimes looping in bolo-type punches, and he has improved a lot in the past year or so.
Bute is much more of the precise, textbook technician. The old-school British writers would have said that Bute is good at “reading” an opponent in that he usually seems to figure out the other man and stays a step ahead.
He has never met anyone like Berrio, though.
This is the sort of fight where Bute could be doing well only for one punch to change everything.
I think it will help Bute, though, that four of his last five fights have been 12-round points wins. He has become accustomed to going the rounds and not getting hit by too many punches. In his last fight, against the strong and durable Sakio Bika, Bute boxed in a very disciplined way and actually beat the Australian-domiciled African fighter a lot more easily than Joe Calzaghe had managed to do. The early rounds were somewhat difficult for Bute, but then he simply pulled away from Bika, making him miss and countering crisply — as Stephane Larouche pointed out, Bute was coming on strongly by round six.
One thing I particularly noticed was that Bute’s left hand had enough authority to make Bika reluctant to keep coming at him. By the finish he was totally outclassing a confused and disheartened Bika.
If Bute can box like this against Berrio, and of course not get hit by a big right hand, he should win.
There is an impressive coolness about Bute, an ability to keep his emotions under control and not get unsettled by pressure. He beat Berrio-type fighters in Lolenga Mock and Sakia Bika, frustrating them with his movement and defence and picking them off after making them miss. Berrio is a better, more formidable fighter than either Bika or Mock, but I think that Bute has the formula for victory.
I believe that Bute, at 27, is ready for his biggest challenge. There are likely to be anxious moments but I believe Bute has the style and the speed to box his way to a decision win, with a chance of a late-round stoppage if he can land enough left hands to wear down Berrio — and the fact that Reyes gloves will be worn surely must increase the chances of this fight ending before the final bell.

 

Hyping a prospect is not always a great idea. Do you remember how the Quebec media hyped Demers before he got a boxing lesson from Abraham? All it will take is one lucky shot from Berrio and everybody in this forum will be debating Bute's "glass jaw."

 

Everybody except the media knew Demers was going to get his ass kicked against Abraham.

 

I love how they didn't even bother to mention Calzaghe.:rofl They probably know, like the rest of us, that Calzaghe will be back fighting MW's after the Kessler fight.:yep

 

Bute Set to Become a “Three Letter Champ”



Some of us dream of fighting for that championship belt, whether WBC, WBO, WBA, or IBF. When we awake, we note the only belt we have is the one we are using to tie our bathrobe, and after trodding to the kitchen to make coffee, reflect on our dream before muttering a few four-letter words. But now we can rejoice, for our dream has become Lucian Bute’s reality. He’s fighting Alejandro Berrio for Berrio’s IBF super middleweight title in the Bell Centre of Montreal, Canada on Friday night. And for Bute, there will be no four-letter words. Only a three-letter title. At least that’s the way Stephan Larouche, Bute’s trainer, sees it.

“This time there is one fewer letter,” Larouche tells Max Boxing. “We usually fight for a four-letter titles – NABF or NABA -- but now it’s a three-letter title. This is something Bute’s been looking to do since he was 15 years old. He was dreaming about it. But it’ll come true on Friday night. And what he’s thinking of doing against Berrio is the same thing he normally does. Fighting well, being in good shape, applying the right strategy, and then one minute at a time and one round at a time end up with his dream coming true.”

27 year-old Bute is 20-0 with 16 KOs, with fifteen of the sixteen KOs coming in his first fifteen fights. He is a southpaw with quick combinations and excellent footwork and balance. Lately, this Romanian fighting out of Canada has gone the distance, earning his last knockout in September 2006 against James Obede Toney in the eighth. In January, he defeated Sergey Tatevosyan in twelve, and then, he went twelve with former world title challenger Sakio Bika in an IBF title eliminator in June. Bute’s winning that fight set up Friday’s fight against Berrio.

To win the IBF super middleweight title, Bute must be prepared. After all, Alejandro Berrio, 26-4 with 25 KOs, is the champion. The Columbian Berrio won the title in March of this year when he went to Germany and KOed Robert Stieglitz, a fighter who had knocked Berrio out back in 2005. These two knockouts aren’t surprising if you look at Berrio’s record. Twenty-five of his twenty-six wins have come by knockout and all four losses have been by knockout. This means on Saturday night, Berrio probably expects the fight to end within twelve rounds. Given Berrio’s record, Bute can’t climb through the ropes, thinking the title is his; he has to take it away. To that end, Bute and his team have focussed on a lot of sparring with many different fighters.
“Camp went really, really well especially because we had no injuries,” Larouche says. “We had our final sparring session today. We sparred a total of 143 rounds. We had guys who could fight right-handed. We had one or two southpaws. We had one guy who could switch. We have guys who are heavy handed. We had tall guys, short guys. We had a lot of versatile guys.”

Now with the hard work done and only a few days to go before the twelve rounds of really hard work begins, Bute has a chance to wind down and relax.

“He’s working on fine tuning, on strategy, on watching the video one more time, and on mental preparation. On applying the strategy, on practicing, on not getting sick, and on not getting injured. The weight is fine. He’s about 4 pounds over the weight limit, so by Thursday, he’ll be perfect,” Larouche says.

Getting through a training camp without injury is definitely a plus for the fighter and the fans. Fight fans south of the Canadian border enjoying a free Showtime weekend missed out on a no-miss fight when Bute sparring partner Adrian Diaconu hurt his own hand, cancelling his appearance in the ring with Chad Dawson. And Bute has had hand problems before causing him to pull out of an undercard spot on the Mikkel Kessler-Marcus Beyer bout in Denmark. With only a few days to go, it seems all clear for Bute to make his appearance in the ring.

But going from fighting for four-letter titles to three-letter titles does pose a challenge, even for someone as polished as Bute is. A lot of fighters have frozen when faced with the big-time. Canadian Kirk Johnson seemed to have the skill to beat John Ruiz in 2002, but he didn’t have the mental toughness that Ruiz had. He hit low and got disqualified. What will fighting for a world title do to Bute?

Larouche says it makes no difference to him.

“Lucian has been fighting in Montreal his whole career and has had about 12 main event fights in Montreal, so there are a couple of things that don’t change: his doing a main event in Montreal doesn’t change; his having to deal with the pressure of putting on a good show in Montreal doesn’t change. I think the difference now is that he feels that he has no room for error: losing is not an option.”

If this dangerous southpaw loses, his name will probably be lost from the telephone books of other contenders. For Bute, then, winning on Friday is a must.

Ironically, Berrio has a lot going for him by having nothing going for him: he’s going to Bute’s hometown; the crowd will expect him to lose and will be vocal about that; and the boxing world will expect him to lose. And Larouche concurs.

“He’s a fighter with no pressure. Berrio was not supposed to be a world champion. He went to Germany as an opponent. But he went there with good boxing ability, good preparation, and good strategy. That’s why we take Berrio very seriously. He’s coming to Montreal not as an opponent but as a champion. And we will fight him as a champion because we know he can pull off an upset. He did it a few times. He did it in Yusaf Mack’s back yard in Philadelphia. And he’s used to doing it. This guy Berrio just does his best and most of the time his best is enough for him to win.”

Berrio then, by seeming to be such a soft touch, may prove difficult. He did beat Mack, a fighter who two weeks ago put rugged and awkward Librado Andrade on the mat before getting beat himself. And he did go to Germany and knock out Stieglitz in three rounds for the title. When facing a hometown spoiler like Berrio, a fighter needs the right strategy.

“Bute’s got the boxing ability to outbox Berrio, we know that. So, it’s a matter of applying the right move at the right time and not falling in Berrio’s strengths, into his phonebooth. That’s where Berrio likes it: he likes it in close range,” says Larouche. “And basically, Lucian has to be very careful about Berrio’s power: Berrio comes from both sides, from underneath and from the top. He’s got really heavy hands. He’s a heavy handed fighter.”

So, his boxing skills should serve Bute well. After winning his first fifteen fights by KO, he has shown he can box and go the distance, opening up when he needs to and knowing when to keep his hands tight and keep moving and jabbing.

If he can stay disciplined and can defeat Barrios, Bute is poised to enter the super middleweight sweepstakes. It is a deep division with a high profile given that ESPN’s boxing reality show, “the Contender,” is featuring super middleweights this year and that Calzaghe and Kessler are having a super fight in two weeks.

“There is more traffic in this division than we have ever seen,” says Larouche. “It’s a young division, that super middleweight division. And it’s becoming more mature, so it has more quality fighters than it has had in the past. And quality fighters mean opponents coming to fight, and when opponents come to fight that means we have a good payday. There are two reasons to be in boxing. Number one is to be a world champion. And number two is to make sure the financial aspect of your life will be covered for the rest of your life. And we’re looking to be a part of the major fighters of the division, and I think Lucian will be able to handle any of the guys in the division after winning on Friday night.”

Nowadays, boxing skills don’t automatically lead to big bucks. One also has to rely on the luck of the weight class. Junior middleweights aren’t making much, but if a fighter goes down seven pounds, he moves away from the Vernon Forrests and Cory Spinks of the world and closer to the Floyd Mayweathers and the Shane Mosleys: that puts him in line for a payday. Middleweights aren’t making much, but if they go up eight pounds, maybe there will be a payday against Calzaghe or Kessler. Bute is in the fortunate position of being good enough to fight for titles, having a fan base in Montreal, and being in a high profile division.

That’s the Barney Ross school of boxing -- make your money and get out of the game. And where Barney Ross had Chicago and New York City to help him fill his pockets, Bute has Montreal, always a big fight town in Canada but now a big fight town in the world. And if you listen to boxing analyst Russ Anber on TSN (Canada’s answer to ESPN), Montreal with its homegrown talent, its gyms, and its fight cards, may be the next mecca of boxing. And Bute is the center of attention there.

“This is a major happening in Montreal,” Larouche says. This fight will be on national television here. On free television. The Bell Centre is almost sold out. In Montreal, there are two topics this week and one is the Montreal Canadiens as it always is and always will be. But beside the Montreal Canadians, the other is the most important sportsman who shares the same building as the Montreal Canadiens -- that is Lucian Bute and he’s the second biggest thing in Montreal this week.”

Bute’s night has finally arrived. And while the rest of us are left without championship belts but only four-letter words and that belt of scotch at night, Bute not only has those four-letter belts but a three-letter belt just one opponent away. And maybe in a year or two, he can face the winner of Calzaghe-Kessler and after twelve rounds dispense with the letters altogether, becoming the super middleweight champion of the world

 

I am very unaware of this Berrio. Until right now I believed him to be white.