Who should Lucian Bute fight in his next match?

He shouldn't be rated #1 in my opinion but certainly amongst the top 3 when making an assessment from the combination of talent, ways he won & overall competition faced.

I disagree about Kessler still deserving to be ahead of him....

If you think people worship him that much, then you'll eventually think people are starting a new religion with David Lemieux as the main guru...

 

You're right about Hopkins and Pascal (even if the timing was not very good) but I think something was on the table against Dawson if he had won. Apart Pascal and Dawson, there is nothing for Bute in the LHW. I know some fighters say they think about going up after the super six but it's not for the near future. Interbox made their decision before Dirrell decided to go out of the tournament. Bute could then have faced one top fighter in March. Now he has to wait another 6 months.

 

You make a good point.
Now, ratings aren't an exact science, but I still wonder about Bute's status. BoxRec has Bute as #1, and so does Ring Mag, and that is something to be considered (he's definitely no bum), but I can't see how he's ahead of Kessler, Froch and Abraham.

The only thing I can imagine, is that they've compared opponents:
* Bute annihilated Andrade in their second fight, someone Kessler was unable to finish off.
* Bute beat Edison Miranda much more easily than Arthur Abraham did.
* Bute is ahead of Froch because... ummm... sorry, I have no idea.
Either way - that's no way to rank fighters.
I'd personally have Bute ranked as #8, pushing Stieglitz down to #9. Just until he has that proper signature win (or more) that he needs to earn that top spot.

Right now, as long as the Super Six is still running, I'd go for Kelly Pavlik... and I think maybe Bute could pull that off.

 

He has to rematch Dawson after Hopkins - rematch clause

 

Who are the 7 guys ahead of him ? :huh Can you list them please ?

 

rematch with zuniga

 

In an ideal world, I would prefer Bute to give up the 168lbs division, move up and fight Cloud for his belt while Dawson & Pascal settle their business.

Then the winners simply meet in order to unify the belts !

 

That's absurd. There's a logical argument for ranking him as low as #6, but no lower than that. And I think you really need to stretch things to rank him behind Abraham (whose only win at 168 was over shot Jermain Taylor) at this point.

 

Ah, sorry, I just used the BoxRec list... which I don't completely agree with either.
They have it like this:
1) Bute, 2) Dirrell, 3) Ward, 4) Kessler, 5) Pavlik, 6) Abraham, 7) Froch, 8) Stieglitz

So I would actually put Bute as #7, until further notice, since I forgot to take into account that he was included in the top 8 anyway.
But! I think he BELONGS higher up, but needs a better chance to show it first.

 

I actually think there's no way Abraham can be ahead of Bute at this point and it's quite ironic to have people rating him ahead when all he did his entire career was facing ordinary mandatories at home, and at 160lbs mind you, the exact thing for which people **** on Bute...

 

So why is Pavlik ahead of Bute at 168lbs ?

There's a huge lack of information from people rating certain guys higher...based on nothing...it's laughable really...

 

Hey, I'm not exactly sold on that one either, but i think those two wins against Jermain Taylor before he was shot count for a LOT still.
But yes, at another weight class. Hm.
What would be your top 7?

 

There's really no other legit fights. Even if Bute fights guys like Pavlik or Williams for instance, he doesn't get that much credit, especially for Williams because he'd be looked at, as picking on smaller fighters !