Kessler, Ward Injuries Likely To Delay Bute's 2012 Layout

By Richard Cloutier
 
Injuries have recently plagued the super middleweight division. Mikkel Kessler (44-2-0) injuried his right hand in training and withdrew from his upcoming fight with WBO champion Robert Stieglitz (40-2), which was scheduled for November 5th in Copenhagen. Kessler-Stieglitz will likely get rescheduled to an date in early 2012. Champions Carl Froch (28-1) and Andre Ward (24-0) saw their Super Six final round showdown pushed back, after Ward suffered a bad cut over his right eye. The fight got pushed back from October 29th to December 17th. 

IBF champion Lucian Bute is defending his title against Glen Johnson on November 5th. Bute, and his promoter InterBox, were hoping to plan out his next fight before the end of the year. With the recent run of injuries, Bute will have to wait until 2012 to figure out his options. He was hoping to fight the winner of Kessler-Stieglitz or Froch-Ward in early 2012.

"It may cause a slight delay in our plans," said the president of InterBox, Jean Bédard, during a telephone interview with BoxingScene.com.

"Previously, we were going to outline where we would go with Lucian on November 6th. With the injuries of Kessler and Ward, it will probably delay his return to the ring by a month or two [in 2012]. But it's four guys who are really our targets. Our wish is that Lucian confronts one of the winners of these two battles. This suggests that it will lead us [to a fight] in mid-April 2012."

"But, we must say that Lucian still delivered three fights this year. At his level, it's still a lot. There are very few world champions who stage that many title defenses [per year]. We'll see how he does on the 5th of November against Glen Johnson. Maybe it's going to be a very difficult fight and Lucian might need a little rest. "

Regarding the planned undercard for Bute-Johnson at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec, InterBox has already released information regarding most of the fighters involved.

Pier-Olivier Cote (17-0-0) vs. Jorge Luis Teron (25-2-1) for the IBF InterContinental title, Sebastien Gauthier (21-2-0) vs. Steve Molitor (33 - 2-0), Sebastien Demers (31-4-0) vs. Allan Green (30-3-0), in addition to Kevin Bizier (15-0-0), whose opponent has yet to be confirmed.

Kessler-Stieglitz was originally scheduled as the Showtime televised co-feature to Bute (29-0) and Johnson (51-15-2). With Kessler's fight being postponed to next year, InterBox is currently holding discussions with Showtime to televise another fight from the Bute-Johnson undercard.

"We are indeed holding discussions for at least another fight," confirmed Jean Bédard. "The reason we are waiting [before selecting a fight], is that Showtime has not yet confirmed the exact time that Lucian has to fight. We have been talking to them. We do think that one of our fights will become the co-feature in place of Kessler-Stieglitz. "