By Chris LaBate

At the Bell Centre in Montreal, IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (28-0, 23KOs) punished European champ Brian Magee (34-4, 24KOs) with shots to the body to get a TKO win in the tenth round. The fight was the first of Bute's exclusive lucrative contract with Showtime.

Bute came out with a sharp jab to the head and body of Magee. In the early rounds, the fight was a chess match for the most part. Magee snuck in a very good left hand in the third round that got Bute's attention. In the sixth round, Bute landed a shot right to the middle of Magee's stomach and put him down. Magee recovered well and started trading punches with Bute.

In the seventh, Bute was picking him off with uppercuts and landed another shot to the body, but it was ruled as a low blow. Bute went right back to the body and sent Magee down again, and this time it was ruled a knockdown. A replay showed the first knockdown was legit. The ref had his back turned and thought it was a low blow.

Bute went back to the uppercuts in round eight and dug with a few vicious body blows. Magee was staggered from a bodyshot in the middle of the tenth round. Bute circled around and landed that left uppercut up the middle to drop Magee again. The ref had seen enough and waved it off.

Tags: Lucian Bute , Brian Magee , Bute-Magee , Bute vs Magee