By Luke Furman
The next fight for former champion Lucian Bute (30-1, 24KOs) will be carefully planned, according to promoter Jean Bedard of InterBox. On Saturday in Nottingham, the Canadian star was battered over five rounds by Carl Froch (29-2, 21KOs), who captured Bute's IBF super middleweight crown.
There is a rematch clause, which directs Froch to face Bute in Montreal, but it doesn't appear, right now, that Bute's camp will exercise that option for his next fight.
"There is no rush to settle the question of [Bute's] next fight. We must let the dust settle. The boxing business is very hard emotionally. Lucian deserves some rest and we will sit down, in the coming weeks to develop the right plan for the continuation of his career," Bedard said.
Trainer Stephan Larouche agrees. He says Bute needs to get some rest, get himself back together and come back strong.
"We are going back to the drawing board, but we will abide in Lucian. This is the kind of defeat that hurts. After a knockout like that, you take some time for yourself and reset the counter to zero. A defeat like that is never as dramatic as people initially think. Several boxers, believed their career was over [after that kind of loss], [but they] were able to put together a plan and return in force thereafter."
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org
