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Lucian Bute Fights On Showtime Saturday, Vs. Brian (Who He?) Magee

Published

14 years ago

March 14, 2011

IBF SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMP LUCIAN BUTE
TO DEFEND AGAINST BRIAN MAGEE
MARCH 19 LIVE ON SHOWTIME

Bute’s Title Defense Kicks Off Multi-Fight Agreement With SHOWTIME;
Plus the Rebroadcast of Saturday’s Thriller Between Miguel Cotto and Ricardo Mayorga

Live at 10 p.m. ET/PT, From Bell Centre In Montreal, Canada

NEW YORK (March 14, 2011) – Unbeaten International Boxing Federation (IBF) Super Middleweight Champion Lucian Bute (27-0, 22 KOs) will make his eagerly anticipated first start since signing a multi-fight agreement with SHOWTIME Sports when he makes the seventh defense of his 168-pound crown against former European titleholder Brian Magee (34-3-1, 24 KOs), of Belfast, Ireland, live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING on Saturday, March 19 on SHOWTIME® at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) from Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. The telecast will begin with the rebroadcast of the March 12 action-packed SHOWTIME PPV® fight between World Boxing Association (WBA) Super Welterweight champion Miguel Cotto and Ricardo Mayorga.

Bute, who signed with SHOWTIME in November 2010, is one of the most talented pound-for-pound and popular fighters of this era. He has won all but one of his title defenses by knockout, including four consecutive victories inside the distance.

The immensely popular 31-year-old Romanian-born fighter lives in Montreal, where he routinely draws a sellout crowd. The 6-foot, 2 ½-inch natural lefthander, who has supreme counter-punching ability, speed and power, is coming off a ninth-round knockout of Jesse Brinkley on Oct. 15 in Montreal.

Bute won the IBF title from Alejandro Berrio in 2007 and made successful defenses against William Joppy, Librado Andrade twice, Fulgencio Zuniga and Edison Miranda. In his first appearance on SHOWTIME, Bute retained the IBF belt with a lopsided 12-round decision over Andrade on Oct. 24, 2008, in one of the most talked about final rounds of the last decade.

Bute, who is training in Miami for this southpaw vs. southpaw showdown, is not taking the Irishman lightly. Magee fought Super Six World Boxing Classic Semifinalist Carl Froch – a possible opponent for Bute in the near future – tough for 10 rounds before losing via knockout in the 11th in May 2006.

“Magee is an experienced boxer,” Bute said. “He has a good right hook, he's aggressive, he will never quit and he can punch. I can't underestimate him and I have to be well-prepared. I respect him as a fighter, but I fully expect to rain on his St. Patrick’s Day parade”.

“I'm ready for a long and tough fight. It was not an easy fight for Carl Froch, and I don't expect it to be for me either.”
While his immediate concentration is on Magee, Bute knows that, if triumphant, he will set himself up for several possible matchups on SHOWTIME, including what would likely be a highly anticipated showdown with the eventual winner of the Super Six World Boxing Classic.
“Now I'm focused fully on Brian Magee,” Bute said. “But after March 19, I can set my sights on getting ready for the winner of the Super Six tournament.”

The 35-year-old Magee has not lost since 2006 and is also riding an impressive streak of four consecutive knockouts. Magee has won six in a row and nine of 10 since his loss to Froch.

Ranked No. 8 by the IBF, the 6-foot southpaw feels Bute is not looking past him.

“I don’t think (Bute) will take me for granted,” Magee said. “I think he will prepare for me like a champion. Without a doubt he’s the best in the division right now. He’s a hard fighter to have a plan against because he’s good at everything. He’s going to go back and go forward. He’s a very worthy world champion.

“He’s a lot trickier on his feet than Froch. They are similar in size but I think Lucian is better at speed and movement and boxing ability. I try to be a good boxer-fighter. I admire boxers who get in the ring and use their skill. I try to box and I think of myself as very determined. I always give 110 percent.”

The event is promoted by InterBox.

Steve Albert will call the action from ringside with Al Bernstein providing color commentary and Jim Gray serving as ringside reporter. David Dinkins Jr. is the executive producer of SHOWTIME Sports with Ray Smaltz producing and Bob Dunphy directing.

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

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