By Mark Vester
At the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (26-0, 21 KOs) clocked hard-punching Edison Miranda (33-5, 29 KOs) with a wicked left-handed uppercut to retain his title with a third round knockout.
Miranda allowed Bute to lead in the first round. He stayed back was trying to counter Bute as he came in. Bute was throwing his own jab in return. Bute with a good left and a shot to the body. Miranda continued to jab. As the bell sounded, Miranda went after Bute and nearly nailed him. The ref stopped Miranda, who did not hear the bell to end the first.
In the second, Miranda came out stalking but then he stayed back and let Bute come to him. Bute landed a left and then Miranda charged him and tried to make it a fight. Miranda was using his jab to come in and attempt to land big shots. Bute was doing a lot of defense. They traded some punches at the end of the round.
It didn't take long for the two to start trading in the third round, Miranda was rocked by an uppercut that sent him down nearly face first. He made it up before the end of the count, but his legs looked gone and the ref stopped the contest.
Undercard Results
Bantamweight Sebastien Gauthier (18-2 12 KOs) won an eight round unanimous decision over Jason Hayword (6-9). The scores were 79-72, 79-72 and 80-71.
Super middleweight prospect Francy Ntetu (3-0, 1 KOs) won a dominating four round unanimous decision over Juan Sanchez (3-6). The scores were 40-35 on all three cards.
Super featherweight prospect Pier Olivier Cote (11-0, 7 KOs) stopped Hugo Pacheco (8-14) in three rounds.
