When IBF Super Middleweight Champion Lucian Bute survived a final seconds knockdown from Librado Andrade in Canada a year ago, there were cries of injustice from the boxing public, who watched as a hometown referee appeared to save the local fighter from a knockout loss.
In October of 2008, Bute outboxed Andrade for eleven rounds, losing one, maybe two rounds along the way. Clearly outclassed, Andrade’s granite chin kept him in the fight, and, by round twelve, Bute was so exhausted that he could barely stand up. Andrade took advantage, pummeling the undefeated champion around the ring and finally putting him down with less than twenty seconds left in the fight.
Referee Marlon B. Wright, who, like Bute, is based out of Canada, proceeded to issue one of the slowest counts ever recorded, even stopping to warn Andrade to get back into a neutral corner. Bute stood up before the count of nine, though Wright’s count was somewhere around six at the time, but the champion was out on his feet and not ready to respond to a referee’s instructions.
And so the fight continued, the bell rang, and Bute escaped with a unanimous decision win, though the consensus was that he had been fortunate to escape with his title and his undefeated streak in tact.
As necessary as it was for Bute to give Andrade a rematch, both as the IBF mandatory and the fact that many thought Bute should have lost the first fight, it was also considered a dangerous fight for the champion. Andrade would no doubt come on stronger earlier in the rematch, and it wasn’t clear whether Bute had the stamina to go twelve hard rounds.
Instead, the fight turned out to be Bute’s coming out party.
The rematch started out similar to the first fight, with Bute easily winning the first round without spending too much energy. A few straight left hands were more than enough to take the round off the challenger, who usually took a few rounds to build steam and get his fight going.
Andrade made the second round much more competitive as he pressed the attack to Bute. In the first fight, Andrade had pushed the fight around the fifth round, so it was no doubt a wise to start earlier the second time around. He lost a close round as Bute landed the cleaner, flusher shots, but his increasing pressure had to remind Bute of their first encounter.
In round three, Bute made a stand and lit Andrade up badly, twice buckling his knees with hard straight left hands to the head. Somehow, Andrade shook off both shots and went right back after Bute, losing a lopsided around.
Andrade began round four much more committed to pressuring the champion. In fact, despite taking hard combinations to the head, he was having his best round of the fight when he walked into a big left hand across the mouth from Bute. The shot quickly dropped him to his knees, and Andrade tried to grab onto Bute’s legs but ended up falling flat on his face on the canvas instead – only the third time in his career he had been knocked down, the second of which was arguably a slip against Bute late in the first fight.
Down on his stomach, Andrade managed a wink to his corner to assure them that he had simply been caught and wasn’t badly hurt. He got up before the count of six and went back to war, slugging it out with Bute and trying to catch him with something big to turn the fight. But it was Bute landing big shots, turning Andrade’s head left and right.
Moments later, Bute backed into a corner of the ring and unleashed a big left hand to the body of Andrade that instantly dropped him onto his hands and knees. Andrade buried his head in the canvas as Esteves counted him out, and, with that, the business was finished.
For Bute, the win is without a doubt his biggest. He not only erased doubts about the only controversial victory of his career, but he also did it emphatically, knocking out a guy who was considered by many to have the best chin in the sport. And what’s more, he did it in just four rounds.
For comparison’s sake, Mikkel Kessler was unable to stop Andrade, despite doling out punishment for twelve brutal rounds in 2007.
Unfortunately for Bute, coming off his biggest win, there isn’t really anywhere to go next. He has been frozen out of the super middleweight picture thanks to Showtime’s Super Six World Boxing Classic, though it now appears he should have gotten consideration over Jermain Taylor. The top super middleweights will be unavailable to fight Bute until 2011 at the earliest.
For Bute, that means more defenses against mandatory opponents. If he wants a more meaningful fight, he can look to Allan Green in a fight Showtime or HBO would likely pick up. Or he could unify titles with Robert Stieglitz, who won the WBO title in August. Another enticing option would be a fight with compatriot Jean Pascal in what would be a huge attraction in Canada.
As for Andrade, he comes up short in his third attempt to win a title. Known more for his chin and his bravery than his boxing skills, he has been a fan favorite for years. But with his destruction at the hands of Bute, perhaps his Achilles heel has been revealed. His head can take everything, including the kitchen sink, but the body didn’t prove as strong on this occasion.
