Lucian Bute: Fighting Words for this Saturday’s Showdown
By Marc Anthony
“I take this fight very serious.” — Lucian Bute
“Someone like Bute, you have to be ready for everything.” — Brian Magee
This Saturday on Showtime live at the Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada:
IBF Super Middleweight Championship
Lucian Bute, 27-0, 21 KO’s vs. Brian Magee, 34-3-1, 24 KO’s
Plus the replay of Miguel Cotto vs. Ricardo Mayorga
Brian Magee quotes:
“We got a great reception from the fans and I had a great workout. The fans seem really excited here for the fight this Saturday night.”
“I had to work hard to get here and do a lot of things to get the shot. So I feel I totally deserve it. I am so happy to be here. It’s great to be fighting the best in the division.”
“As a boxer this is a dream fight.”
“It’s nothing new to me…to be the underdog. Every fight I get into I seem to be the underdog. Yet I always came through. I am here fighting for the world title. The good thing is I am Irish and one of the things the Irish know how to do is to fight.”
“The super middleweight is a division where the fighters are complete fighters and they are good at everything. It’s the hardest division in the world.”
“Someone like Bute, you have to be ready for everything.”
“Once you are beaten, it is very hard to climb up the ladder again. So I had to persevere a lot.”
Lucian Bute quotes
“I am very anxious for the fight on Saturday. I feel that Brian Magee was the best opponent available and I take this fight very serious.”
“I am very concentrated on Brian Magee. I have not thought about anyone else. My objective is to have a good performance and to win the fight on Saturday.”
“The objective is to stay a champion and to stay unbeaten.”
“Once I have a contract, I concentrate on my opponent and I train 2 months in advance. I just focus on my opponent. I am coming into the ring with the attitude to win every minute of every fight and that’s how I dominate my opponent. If a knockout comes…it comes but that’s not what I am trying to do. I am trying to win fights and so far I have been successful. I will continue to do this and it’s going be the same thing going in on Saturday night.”
On a possible Mikkel Kessler match-up?
“When I signed the contract with Showtime, I knew big fights were coming up names like Mikkel Kessler and all the other guys in the Super Six…that’s what I wanted to fight. I really thought I could fight him now in March, but he didn’t heal enough in time after his injury from last year so we had to concentrate on another opponent we got the best out there: Brian Magee.”
“Once I defend my title against Brian Magee…definitely I would love to fight Mikkel Kessler, why not? Him or anybody else in the Super Six or Super Middleweight.”
“I want to congratulate Glen Johnson on making it to the semi-finals. I think he is a great boxer, great person and congratulations to him to make it so far in his age but my opinion the final will be Carl Froch vs. Andre Ward and I think I give both guys an equal chance. I can’t really say the winner of the fight might be but I think it’s going to be an exciting fight.”