The logical fight after the Super Six, but, as is often the case with the most logical fights, it didn't happen. Anyone who knows what happened? Was it ever in the works?
Ward fought Dawson right after he won the Super Six. Froch fought and destroyed Bute around the same time. Ward took the fight with Dawson because he was the more lucrative fight. Once Carl beat Bute so decisively, there really was no reason to fight Bute.
Yeah, Froch actually faced Bute right after Ward. Had forgotten it was so soon after. Mystery solved then I guess.
Ward picked up an injury against Froch which meant he wasn't going to line up a fight straight away in any case. Also, even after Ward's win over Froch, Bute and his team were still selling themselves as the kings of the division and would have wanted financial parity, maybe even a bigger share of the purse. Boxing Monthly still had Bute ranked at number one at Super-Middle even after Ward won the Super Six, which was an absolute joke. Might have been a slightly tricky one to make, at least quickly, from the point of view of boxing politics. Plus Ward had options such as Ward, who ended up being his next fight. Should have been at 175, mind you. Froch, on the other hand, was an easy deal for Bute to take, even though the fight was in Nottingham. He had the option of a return fight in Canada, and got a huge percentage of the purse. Froch took short money without any hesitation, as he really had no other route back to the top and needed to act quickly. Don't forget that Froch had signed for Bute within roughly two months of losing to Ward. His team jumped on it so quickly Ward never really had much of a chance to shape up a Bute fight, considering he was waiting for his injury sustained against Froch to heal before signing himself up for anything. Bute got exposed badly against Froch right about the time Ward had opened up negotiations with Ward, so that was that.
