By Cliff Rold

In hard economic times, discerning eyes pick their purchases carefully.  A Canadian consumer favorite is on the cusp of real global expansion. 

A product market is being built.

Lucian Bute (25-0, 20 KO), the IBF titlist at 168 lbs., might be the best Super Middleweight in the world.  Should he win this Saturday night, and continue to ply his trade in the division, the chance to definitively prove it one way or the other will not be right around the corner.

It won’t come any earlier than 2011, maybe 12.  He might be the best but he surely is left out of the division’s defining event.

Due in various parts to timing, mandatory obligations, and a strong lot to draw from, Bute was the odd man out when the “Super Six” tournament was dreamed up at Super Middleweight.  It is now in the second of what will ultimately be five rounds (including the semi and final rounds) of fisticuffs.  The tournament will last into 2011; with cancellations and rescheduling, it could extend further than that.  Bute won’t get his hands on, say, an Arthur Abraham or Andre Ward, for a while.

Those names from the “Super Six” are not included by coincidence.

This weekend, Bute is offering fans a chance to go comparison shopping, facing a dangerous puncher whose name is already found in their win column.  Edison Miranda (33-4, 29 KO) may not be the absolute toughest fight left available to Bute, but he’s among the smartest choices. 

It’s boxing’s version of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’  When one can’t get directly to the best foes, beating up the men who have already danced with the desired suffices.  It keeps the time and enhances the imagination of the audience.

Whether it is wise to do so or not (and not is usually the answer), it’s inevitable that whether Saturday ends with a line that reads “Bute SD12 Miranda” or “Bute KO2 Miranda,” there will be many who use previous lines reading “Ward UD12 Miranda” and “Abraham KO4 Miranda” as fodder for hypotheses about future showdowns.

Comparison shopping is and always has been valuable in that sense. 

For example, in the 1980s, Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns both defeated Roberto Duran.  The different styles with which they did so, Hagler by tricky decision and Hearns by early concussion, added to the outcomes which could be envisioned for Hagler-Hearns, building into the anticipation for that contest.  Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier had similar comparison points, each man’s wins over Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena contributing to the pretext of their battle. 

Those matches were in a different league, magnitude-wise, than anything Bute is likely to end up in, but sized to scale, illustrate the concept.

Miranda is a wise, if still dangerous, choice of opponent for Bute in comparison terms.  Regardless of whether previous losses to Abraham and Ward (and Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik) have added some wear to the Colombian-born banger, Miranda is still a guy who shows up looking for a knockout.  He makes for entertainment more often than not.  If Bute sends him down, and he’s favored to do so, it’s likely to come in a way that enhances him aesthetically if nothing else.

It’s not Bute’s first trip down the comparison aisle.  Librado Andrade, whom Bute faced twice including in his most recent contest, left Bute with two very different looks in their encounters. 

Following the vacating of the Super Middleweight throne by Joe Calzaghe, up until his loss to Ward in the first round of the “Super Six,” Mikkel Kessler was fairly seen by most as the leader at 168 lbs. with Bute as the next best in class.  There were many contributing factors to that popular assumption, Kessler’s previous title unifying efforts before a loss to Calzaghe among them. 

Each man’s performance versus Andrade was there to be weighed as well.  Andrade challenged Kessler for the WBC and WBA titles in early 2007 and didn’t win a round; in their first fight in October 2008, Bute built a vast lead only to falter down the stretch, get dropped in the last round, and struggle to finish the fight.  

The Andrade rematch gave him not only a second chance to impress ‘shoppers,’ but also a chance at personal redemption and he succeeded on both counts.  Andrade’s chin was seen as among the game’s best and yet Bute dented it, and his ribs, in sending him to the floor twice and scoring a spectacular stoppage.  It was the sort of win which made his exclusion from the tournament glaring. 

Miranda, as noted, is not just a former foe of Abraham and Ward and Bute is not the broadcast headliner for his second straight HBO appearance.  While Bute is leathered up in Montreal before the typically rabid Bell Centre faithful, Kelly Pavlik will warming up to make a defense of the Middleweight crown against the dangerous Sergio Martinez in Atlantic City.

By the end of the evening, should Bute and Pavlik both win, comparison shopping there is inevitable.  Pavlik doesn’t have tremendous depth in terms of opposition at 160 lbs.  Defeat Martinez and there will be great hue and call for a Pavlik showdown with Paul Williams but after that?

After that, should he stay on a winning track, Super Middleweight is likely to start looking like it’s got room for Kelly Pavlik.  The “Super Six” won’t be making any room for him either, leaving Bute as a viable and enticing foe; so viable and enticing as to play on par with the tournament as a two-man HBO answer to Showtime’s six-man endeavor. 

Without Pavlik, Bute can always look up the scale where another Canadian based thriller, Jean Pascal, has Chad Dawson on tap this summer.  Bute at Light Heavyweight would only make that division better.  Because he is at Super Middleweight, the variables remain more interesting to explore there.

All of this thinking ahead won’t mean much if Bute doesn’t win this weekend.  A loss to Miranda would be devastating in terms of public regard, a result which could yield only negative comparisons.

A result that would leave most fans looking to shop elsewhere. 

Bute has to keep the boxing world in his store this weekend.  From there, deals, bargains, and value added for all could be a guarantee.

Weekly Ledger

But wait, there’s more…
 
Estrada-Lora: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=26808
Berto/Caballero: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=26814  
24/7 Reviewed: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=26827
Picks of the Week: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=26864  

Cliff’s Notes…

Another option for Bute’s handlers to pursue could be to go after the other title belt not wrapped up in “Super Six.”  One week from now the tournament kicks into gear again with WBC titlist Carl Froch versus Mikkel Kessler.  This week, not only is Bute’s belt on the line but in Germany the WBO belt is on the line between titlist Robert Stieglitz and Eduard Gutknecht.  Bute would be so heavily favored over either German-based man, the market so presumably unsweetened by the prospect, that it’s the least likely option…Vote Crystal Bowersox…Report cards for the Pavlik-Martinez fight, and the Bute-Miranda show, to come later this week along with a review of the second episode of 24/7.
 
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com