Bute’s Reluctance in Fighting Pascal Opens Door For Hopkins
Written By: Armando Paz
The boxing world must wonder what was Lucian Bute’s motive for sitting ringside for the Pascal-Dawson fight? It appeared that the winner of Pascal-Dawson would be the next opponent for Bute after his fight with Jesse Brinkley (35-5 22 KO’s) this October 15 in Montreal. With the victory of Pascal it was expected that the city of Montreal would be treated with a great showcase of local fighters. A possible 22,000 capacity sell out in the Bell Centre for possibly the biggest fight in Canada’s history. Unfortunately, that match up has been thrown out of the window by Interbox, the Promotional company that represents Bute who informed Pascal’s management that Bute won’t move up to Light Heavyweight to fight Pascal.
This seems contrary to the idea of being a top pound for pound fighter. Many boxing publications and sites have Bute among the top 10 or 20 pound for pound fighters in the sport currently. It is difficult to maintain those high ratings for Bute as he didn’t participate in the Super 6 contest hosted by Showtime, and is not willing to move up in weight to give his local fans a fight they desire to watch. Pascal responded to Bute’s refusal to fight him by saying “I would like to fight Lucian Bute….but I don’t need to chase him as I am the boss in town.” Pascal added “I just beat one of the top pound for pound guys and I am king in my division…I don’t need him, he needs me as networks as HBO and Showtime don’t want him.” It is clear that Pascal is alluding to the caliber of opponents that Bute has faced as past prime guys like Edison Miranda and William Joppy. The Bute camp has said that they want to fight the winner of the Super 6 tournament, but Bute could have easily move up and fight Pascal now and than go down for a future fight with the Super 6 winner. An upcoming fight with Jesse Brinkly is not going to add much credibility for Bute being a top pound for pound fighter. It is becoming a pattern of boxing where a fighter wins one major title, never moves up in weight, and refuses to unify titles, while just fighting in their local town. At this point, the career of Bute has followed that pattern. Bute has talent and is definitely one of the best body punchers in the sport today, but that talent must be put up against the best in order to validate any claim of being among the elite pound for pound guys. Bute saw his friend and fellow Romanian fighter Adrian Diaconu; who also fights in Quebec, lose his zero to Jean Pascal. It is not streatching it to say that Bute reluctance to fight Pascal is more about losing his 0 than anything else. It is clearly the most lucrative fight for Bute and allows him to fight at home, and yet it is not considered by him.
We would expect that with Bute being out of the picture that Pascal would either give Dawson an immediate rematch or fight someone like IBF champion Tavoris Clound (21-0 18 KO’s). But now there has been communication between Pascal and Bernard Hopkins(51-5 32 KO’s) to make a fight between them a reality. Hopkins certainly feels that he could capitalize on Pascal’s mistakes and weaknesses. Pascal has called Hopkins a “legend” and a man of “experience.” There is no denying that Hopkins is one of the greatest fighters of the last 20 years in the sport. This must be modified with emphasis being on the past tense than the present tense. Hopkins throws fewer punches and takes less risks than before. The major reasons why Hopkins loss to Joe Calzaghe and Jermain Taylor twice was that he simply was out worked. Most importantly, looking at his preposterous rematch with Roy Jones Jr. it is clear that the 45 year old fighter won’t have the legs to fight Pascal if the younger fighter takes the fight to him. We can agree that Hopkins has a great chin and has never been knocked out, but I can see him going down the canvas twice as he did against Segundo Mercado in their first fight. The Mercado fight was more excusable as Hopkins was fighting in Ecuador a country with a high altitude and his breathing had to acclimate. Although to his credit he refused to make it an excuse when the fight was scored a draw.
I do think if Pascal fights aggressively it will both open up opportunities for Hopkins to counter but also risk him getting hurt at his age. If Hopkins goes into his shell, clinches, and uses fouls than expect a mundane 12 round decision win by Pascal. On the other hand, if Hopkins pulls out another great upset as he did against Pavlik, Tarver, and Trinidad than the the legend of Bernard “the executioner” Hopkins will be raised to a new level among boxing immortals.
