Lucian Bute: Prepares for Edison Miranda while Awaiting the Super Six Victor
By Gina L. Caliboso
There is a whole month of highly anticipated bouts this month. As I look to March, there are two bouts that I wouldn’t mind being ringside for – the Super Six Middleweight bout between Andre Dirrell vs. Arthur “King Arthur” Abraham on March 27th, just an hour and a half away from me. And of course, there is the Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey bout on March 13th in Arlington, Texas.
I’ve already written on Clottey’s chances and I just made a return to my Filipino Boxer Report. So what am I doing now? Before I even had a chance to blink and think of making my way ringside to bouts next month, I am happy to discover that on April 17th, my man Lucian “Le Tombeur” Bute, 25-0, 20 KO’s, has been scheduled to take on Edison “Panther” Miranda, 33-4, 29 KO’s.
Bute’s solid fighting ability and undefeated record speak for themselves. The Romanian/French Canadian southpaw’s undefeated record is hardly padded and filled with bouts that he earned wholeheartedly. But it’s always good to look back at his stellar performance in 2009. He handily defeated Fulgencio Zuniga in March 2009 with a 4th round TKO. Nearly 8 months later, Bute would follow up with a KO of Librado Andrade in the 4th round.
Bute’s 2008 fight performance was successful in two ways. First, he did successfully defend his title twice. Second, he learned a little something to contribute to his overall success. He fought and defeated former title holder, William Joppy with a 10th round TKO. He followed up his win over Joppy with a fight against Librado Andrade. This fight against Andrade taught Bute a lesson.
He had been winning the fight all the way up to the 12th round, but nearly lost the battle against Andrade in the end. He held on to win with a 12 round unanimous decision. Bute successfully defeated Andrade and retained his belt, but he promised himself he wouldn’t allow that to happen again, especially in the closing rounds.
The result?
Two quick victories in 2009 in the fourth round – both against Zuniga and Andrade. Lesson learned all in Bute’s favor!
How long has Bute held the IBF Super Middleweight belt? Since 2007, Bute started his sole ownership of the IBF Super Middleweight title when he first defeated Sakio Bika, in June 2007 with a 12 round unanimous decision in a title eliminator bout. Later in October 2007, Bute fought against Alejandro Berrio with a TKO in the 11th round and became the IBF Super Middleweight titleholder. I’d like to mention his losses as humbling lessons of maturity, but he doesn’t have any.
Currently ranked #2 among super middleweights, he was not available to participate in the Super Six Middleweight Tournament. But he has definitely earned his way to fight the current #1 super middleweight, Arthur “King Arthur” Abraham, 31-0, 25 KO’s. It’s only stage 2 of the tournament and Abraham is going to be in it to the end.
Colombia’s Edison Miranda makes for a good match-up for Bute and will definitely provide a challenge. Currently ranked #17 among super middleweights, Miranda can provide an entertaining resistance to Bute’s fighting style. Even though Miranda has 4 losses, the losses show inconsistent flashes of resilience.
Going back in 2006, he lost to Abraham over 12 rounds in a unanimous decision for the IBF Middleweight title. In his 4 losses, he lost two fights by unanimous decision while the other two fights were by early TKO’s. It could be that Abraham also has Miranda’s number. Miranda had pushed Abraham to 12 rounds in their first meeting, but Abraham beat him with a 4th round TKO back in 2008. In 2007, Miranda lost in a WBC Middleweight title eliminator bout to Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik, with a 7th round TKO.
Finally, in 2009, he pushed Andre Ward, to 12 rounds although he eventually lost by unanimous decision. After his loss to Ward, Miranda quickly followed up with a 1st round KO against Francisco Sierra for the interim WBO – NABO Super Middleweight title.
However, you look at Miranda’s fight record and speculate that when he loses, he loses big. When I say big, I just mean that he doesn’t just take a beating. Again, a loss against Abraham in 2008 versus Abraham now? His loss to Pavlik in 2007? Pavlik in 2007 versus Pavlik now? Miranda faced two tough fighters early on and at different stages in their fight careers. Looking back to 2007, Miranda also defeated Allan Green in 10 rounds with a unanimous decision. Allan Green replaces Jermain Taylor in the Super Six Middleweight Tournament.
Miranda hasn’t fought bad fighters. He has fought against good fighters in their prime and gave them a challenge. Now, a few years later with such losses under his belt, they can only serve him in experience, maturity and provide a solid presence in the boxing ring.
Barring a repeat episode of his first fight against Andrade where Bute nearly lost his belt and held on in the last few rounds, I predict Bute will defeat Miranda. But really, Miranda has his work cut out for him and needs to make himself a contender again. Let’s just head into March and April – it’s going to be an awesome two months of boxing!