Lucian Bute Decisions Andrade, A Controversial Ending

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Before 17,000 screaming fans at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (23-0, 18KOs) Librado Andrade (27-2, 21KOs) retained his title with a twelve-round decision with a very, very controversial ending. The scores were 115-110, 117-109, 115-111 - all for Bute.

Bute's quick hands and southpaw style gave Andrade fits in the first round. Andrade could never get past the right hands of Bute, they found their mark over and over in the second and so did the lead lefts. Andrade began to get off with some good rights in the third, Bute would fire back with fast combinations. Andrade would continue to bully forward in the fourth and fifth, landing some good punches to push Bute back. The two could clash heads often. Bute would rally back with quick combos.

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By the sixth, the faces of both fighters showed signs of a battle. Bute began to use his movement and distance to keep Andrade coming in and being picked off with punches. Andrade got caught with some very big combinations at the end of the seventh. Bute controlled the action in the eight and the ninth. During the tenth Bute would land combo after combo, even scoring a knockdown by send an off-balance Andrade down. After the knockdown, Andrade tried in vain to get some payback, but couldn't get of enough.

Bute, looking tired, used the jab and quick punches in the eleventh, Anrade kept coming forward. Andrade landed a perfect lefthook, but could not follow-up with any more damage. They would fight in the inside to close out the round as Bute's face was swollen with both eyes closing and his legs were too tired to keep moving around.

Andrade went for broke in the twelfth, with both fighters standing close and trading. Bute looked as if there was nothing left in his body. Andrade saw Bute was very weak and began to beat on him from all corners. In the final seconds, Andrade sent Bute down with a vicious right hand shot with three seconds left and it appeared to be over. While counting Bute, who appeared to be down for quite some time, the ref stopped to warn Andrade back into the corner, wasting crucial seconds and then went back to finish the count as Bute was able to make it to his feet. Andrade's trainer rushed the ring and began to push the ref, heated that his fighter got robbed.

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Comments

EwreckTue Oct 28, 2008, 11:27 PM UTC

Robbery!! A f***ing robbery! The ref favored Bute's balls. He never called him for all the damn holding he was doing until Andrade started complaining about it. And then to top it off ****** *** Showtime commentators never called it like it was! That would've never have happened on HBO!

Fearless_BONGMon Oct 27, 2008, 3:22 AM UTC

That ****ing ref is a disgrace to boxing sports.... Andrade deserves the win and a KO victory in round 12.

PugilisticSat Oct 25, 2008, 4:22 PM UTC

I personally feel the fight should have been stopped. Bute was done.

MANGLERSat Oct 25, 2008, 4:21 PM UTC

Good performance by Bute overall, but Andrade got ****ed.

WESSSat Oct 25, 2008, 1:49 PM UTC

Crazy ending to a fight. Bute dominated up until the last 2 rounds. Andrade had a very good heart and knocked Bute down with seconds left. What everyone should notice is, pay close attention to Bute and do a count. He gets up in between the count of 8 and 9. If the Ref was standing there he could of asked him to walk forward and he would have gotten a standing 8-9 count and could/would have continued because the clock had expired and he would have been saved. If there was anytime left he for sure would have been stopped if Andrade had time to get one more hit. Bute diplayed great heart but week stamania there at the end. I thought it was wrong for the Ref to handle the situation the way he did. It DID look shady and his speech at the end didn't give him any justice. he was STILL in the wrong. Regardless if he counts or not, the count remains the same he must just continue where it was left off....... Andarde didn't do anything to lose the fight. he just lost. Bute was up, the ref just made it a really long count. Bad on the ref. Good on the two fighters at the end. Great sportsmanship. Maybe there will be a rematch. Overall the out come is correct. Like Andrade said, "if there was a way to lose this was the way".

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