By Jake Donovan
Lucian Bute eyed the end of 2014 as a fresh start, but has instead landed back on injured reserve as a back injury has forced the former super middleweight champ to withdraw from a planned December 6 ring return in Montreal, Canada.
The show is still scheduled to move on, with former World light heavyweight king Jean Pascal to now headline in his catchweight bout versus Donovan 'Don Da Bomb' George.
A press conference will be held Tuesday afternoon in Montreal to discuss Bute's withdrawal and the extent of his injury in determining his eventual ring return. Bute was due to face Roberto Bolonti in the main event; no official word at the moment on whether or not Bolonti will remain on the show.
Bute (31-2, 24KOs) has been out of the ring since January, when he was outpointed by Pascal in their long-anticipated—if not past-due—clash between the two biggest draws in Canada.
The loss was his second in the span of three fights, resulting in sweeping changes made in training camp. Bute hooked up with trainer Freddie Roach, training with the Hall of Fame cornerman for the past several months including time spent in Philppines alongside Manny Pacquiao, who finished up camp for this weekend's clash with Chris Algieri.
However, a reported back injury has forced him to sit on the sidelines that much longer.
The withdrawal marked the second significant delay in his comeback tour. Bute was also forced to the sideline with hand injuries, resulting in his showdown with Pascal being postponed to earlier this January after sitting out most of 2013.
Pascal (29-2-1, 17KOs) also hasn't fought since January, and in fact has just three fights to his name following his championship-ending defeat to Bernard Hopkins in their May '11 rematch. The Haitian-Canadian has been chasing countryman and current lineal light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson for most of the second half the year, before settling for a stay-busy showdown with George.
With a win on December 6, Pascal can confidently move towards forcing a mandatory showdown with Stevenson in the first half of 2015. Stevenson has been granted an optional defense, as he faces Dmitry Sukhotsky on December 19, also in Canada.
Meanwhile, it will be back to the drawing board for Bute, whose 2014 will be limited to the loss to Pascal in a year filled with more setbacks to his once promising career.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as the Records Keeper for the Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and a member of Boxing Writers Association of America . Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
