Froch v Bute - Early Thoughts

Sod it, I know it is almost two weeks out and I am always the one going on about Froch (saves Steffan pointing it out ) , but the board is quiet and this is a BIG fight.

How is this going to go?

Personally I feel it is a pick em. Here is why.

Froch is slower, older and has less power. But, he has home support, is hungry for victory and will look to take Bute out of his comfort zone in Notts.

For me it will come down to two main factors. How Bute reacts to a hostile enviroment and whether Froch can get Bute to engage in "his kind of fight". Froch will no doubt have to eat some shots but when Bute is hit he wants to engage and I think if he does that it may become a battle of chins, which Froch should win.

Bute has also had a foot infection which may play a factor.

My head says Bute points, but my heart says Froch.

I'm going with my heart.

Don't care, can't go, am still sulking.

Bute is the better boxer and should win comfortably imo. No need for a rematch as it will be conclusive.

Bute UD giving Carl a boxing lesson along the way..

rowley wrote:Don't care, can't go, am still sulking.

Ha that sucks. At least you don't have to watch it on a stream in Canada in the middle of a steaming hot summers day. It wiull no doubt lag at the key moments. If Showtime had picked it up I would be golden, so I am sulking too mate

Cheers Sean, am gutted I can't go however to answer your question the smart pick has to be Bute as Froch tends to struggle with speed and he is not short of this but have been at the Trent Arena for the Pascal fight and it is a bear pit atmosphere in there, Bute has not done much travelling in his time so a lot will depend how he reacts to this.

Bute by a convincing UD

An interesting point about Bute's reaction to the atmosphere. In all his fights I doubt he's never not been crowd favourite?

Would dearly love Froch to win but think Bute will get the UD, albeit probably SD with a British ref scoring the fight 9 rounds in favour of Froch!

Everyone knows about Froch's chin so Bute must expect it to go the full 12 so must be confident with the selection of judges.

rowley wrote:Cheers Sean, am gutted I can't go however to answer your question the smart pick has to be Bute as Froch tends to struggle with speed and he is not short of this but have been at the Trent Arena for the Pascal fight and it is a bear pit atmosphere in there, Bute has not done much travelling in his time so a lot will depend how he reacts to this.

I really feel as though this might play a factor. Also, did you hear Bute has had a week off with a foot injury? May affect him also.

I feel like Froch has to catch him early with some meanigful shots. So Froch is going to have to start quicker. Bear pit is about right, isn't it. Grew up near Notts (making being in Canada all the more annoying) and you know it is going to be rowdy as can be.

Bute pts is sensible choice, but this may be for Froch what he was for Kessler, which is a fight I thought Froch should have won, but let himself get a little flustered.

What's Bute punch output like. That may be a big factor too.

Seanusarrilius wrote:

What's Bute punch output like. That may be a big factor too.

He's not exactly a volume puncher and hes definitely not going to overwhelm Froch. He is pretty accurate though.

Carl to be thoroughly, thoroughly outboxed, quite possibly knocked out and for Bute to barely get any credit with some stuff about how he caught him at the right time, or its another opponent coming off a loss. Butes too good and has an awful style for Carl.

AlexHuckerby wrote:Carl to be thoroughly, thoroughly outboxed, quite possibly knocked out and for Bute to barely get any credit with some stuff about how he caught him at the right time, or its another opponent coming off a loss. Butes too good and has an awful style for Carl.

Eeek! I respect your opinion and yet I do not like what you are saying. EEK!

Fair point Alex. Although I do believe Froch has been through some hard battles in his last half dozen fights. Coupled with his age, he seems to have slipped. The Johnson fight showed that.

But I dont think he has ever been good enough to beat a Bute. You could be right about a late stoppage also. Bute is very accurate and does pack a dig.

Stoppage to most likely come from body shots also, Bute has a left hook to the body to rival Cottos.

My head says Bute and my heart says Bute.

AlexHuckerby wrote:Stoppage to most likely come from body shots also, Bute has a left hook to the body to rival Cottos.

Even with Froch keeping his hands so low?

AlexHuckerby wrote:Stoppage to most likely come from body shots also, Bute has a left hook to the body to rival Cottos.

I cant see Froch giving in to body shots.

Bute by UD, but I'll be cheering all the way for Froch

He keeps his left low, tends to try and block more with his right, but in my opinion Froch is always incredibly open for 3 punches in particular, Left hook to the head which was a shot Ward took him to town on and Pascal had good success with, same with Kessler, the straight right again Ward used it well and the amount of times a pretty limited fighter in Johnson landed it was alarming, left hook to the body is there for people to take advantage of if the fights gets up close, Ward used it but more as a patter shot to set up the Hook to head which was excellent in both timing and delivering using Frochs long arms against him.

azania wrote:

AlexHuckerby wrote:Stoppage to most likely come from body shots also, Bute has a left hook to the body to rival Cottos.

I cant see Froch giving in to body shots.

Nah me neither I meant more a big body shot lands nearer to the end of the fight and has Froch hurt then a barrage comes in and possibly IJL stops the fight after a solid jab lands or something

Carl by late late TKO.

Duty281 wrote:Carl by late late TKO.

Yeeeeeeees!

PS. I want Carl to win even though I sound terribly negative!!!

Ok, Alex. How much stock to you put int he Andrade fight? I know Bute is far more orunded now, but can Froch employ the pressure tactics that Andrade did and wear him down, or will he just eat right hooks (which Bute employed beautifully v Johnson) on his way in and be worn down

AlexHuckerby wrote:PS. I want Carl to win even though I sound terribly negative!!!

Haha, I know mate

AlexHuckerby wrote:He keeps his left low, tends to try and block more with his right, but in my opinion Froch is always incredibly open for 3 punches in particular, Left hook to the head which was a shot Ward took him to town on and Pascal had good success with, same with Kessler, the straight right again Ward used it well and the amount of times a pretty limited fighter in Johnson landed it was alarming, left hook to the body is there for people to take advantage of if the fights gets up close, Ward used it but more as a patter shot to set up the Hook to head which was excellent in both timing and delivering using Frochs long arms against him.

Carl seems to be blocking more with his face. Eventually it will catch up with him. I fear this is it for him. Plus he just isn't skilled enough and doesn't use his jab as often as he should. No way a guy like Johnson should be catching him with such frequency.

Bute by a close points decision I say close because Froch is the home fighter I don't think this will be a close fight. I don't see what Froch does that bothers Bute that much. He has a decent dig and a good chin (so did Glen Johnson and he was schooled) but nothing else to suggest Bute doesn't box his ears off for the majority of the 12 rounds.

Seanusarrilius wrote:Ok, Alex. How much stock to you put int he Andrade fight? I know Bute is far more orunded now, but can Froch employ the pressure tactics that Andrade did and wear him down, or will he just eat right hooks (which Bute employed beautifully v Johnson) on his way in and be worn down

Thats (For me) Frochs, in part, saving grace in terms of analysing this pre fight because Lucian was gone in that fight, completely, however just for starters I don't really believe it's going to be Frochs gameplan to put all that much pressure on him, especially in the way Andrade did seeing, Froch has no real history of employing these kind of tactics, and secondly because Froch (I believe anyway) has quite a high stock in his boxing ability, as even against Ward he appeared to believe he could outbox him at range.

In terms of what I think would happen if he did go with out and out pressure, I think he would do an ok job in the beginning and smother a bit of Butes work, but I struggle to believe Bute wouldnt be able to begin picking Froch off if this were to happen as in my opinion hes a much better fighting pressure fighters now, and there is some form of evidence in the Andrade rematch and how he easily dealt with Johnson.

Though you never truly know as there is a touch of the unknown about it, but thats just my thoughts.

I would personally like to see Carl box off the back foot and box at range and hopefully remain competetive then begin to unload nearer the end as I think its possible Bute may have a stamina issue, but I have little evidence to back that up with.

AlexHuckerby wrote:

Seanusarrilius wrote:Ok, Alex. How much stock to you put int he Andrade fight? I know Bute is far more orunded now, but can Froch employ the pressure tactics that Andrade did and wear him down, or will he just eat right hooks (which Bute employed beautifully v Johnson) on his way in and be worn down

Thats (For me) Frochs, in part, saving grace in terms of analysing this pre fight because Lucian was gone in that fight, completely, however just for starters I don't really believe it's going to be Frochs gameplan to put all that much pressure on him, especially in the way Andrade did seeing, Froch has no real history of employing these kind of tactics, and secondly because Froch (I believe anyway) has quite a high stock in his boxing ability, as even against Ward he appeared to believe he could outbox him at range.

In terms of what I think would happen if he did go with out and out pressure, I think he would do an ok job in the beginning and smother a bit of Butes work, but I struggle to believe Bute wouldnt be able to begin picking Froch off if this were to happen as in my opinion hes a much better fighting pressure fighters now, and there is some form of evidence in the Andrade rematch and how he easily dealt with Johnson.

Though you never truly know as there is a touch of the unknown about it, but thats just my thoughts.

I would personally like to see Carl box off the back foot and box at range and hopefully remain competetive then begin to unload nearer the end as I think its possible Bute may have a stamina issue, but I have little evidence to back that up with.

Froch has to utilise his jab and not be so mechanical as he was against Ward. He has a reach advantage, must use it

i think before ward, froch would have been the favourite.

he can be out boxed but i see froch geting to him and taking him placed he's not been before.

OasisBFC wrote:i think before ward, froch would have been the favourite.

he can be out boxed but i see froch geting to him and taking him placed he's not been before.

Well Bute has never been to Nottingham before so Froch could take him to places like Clifton or Bakersfield, or maybe outside into the suburbs like Beeston perhaps. Nice area that.

Super D Boon wrote:

OasisBFC wrote:i think before ward, froch would have been the favourite.

he can be out boxed but i see froch geting to him and taking him placed he's not been before.

Well Bute has never been to Nottingham before so Froch could take him to places like Clifton or Bakersfield, or maybe outside into the suburbs like Beeston perhaps. Nice area that.

Take him to St. Anns and drop him off. Will never see Bute again.

Froch can do this. Got to hit him with something hard early though. The first three rounds is where Bute will be far more vulnerable, because he will be in unfamiliar territory. After that I expect him to forget where he is and fully focus on the fight

OasisBFC wrote:i think before ward, froch would have been the favourite.

he can be out boxed but i see froch geting to him and taking him placed he's not been before.

Tbh I though that froch looked horrible vs Johnson and would have made Bute favourite after that. If glen was a couple of years younger he would have won imo, he just tired late and got outworked.

Froch ha s ahold jab, but he is so slow. He is robotic with his movement and has slowed with age.

Froch needs to walk him down an throw combo's after combo's, power shots all night. He won't be knocked out he is as tough as nails, do needs to brawl with him as Bute's may be suspect.

I think saying he looked horrible is a bit much. He was too slow off the mark and got tagged by the overhand right way too much. But he won and clearly. Froch will never make easy work of a world level Super Mid (with the exception of AA, who turns out, wasn't) but only Ward has made easy work of him.

Froch is a very overrated fighter. I dont know a great deal about his next opponent but he is a world champion and Froch is not world class. My prediction would be he loses much like he lost his last fight (provided the officiating is fair and objective).

Can see Froch nicking this one. As someone mentioned, Bute hasn't travelled much and I believe that could well be the key factor. Either way, though, I think it'll definitely be close and certainly won't be surprised to see Bute take it, though not comfortably.

By the way, anyone know the correct pronunciation of Bute? I've heard it spoken equally as 'Be-yoot' and 'Be-yoo-tay'.

Can be either, I think. Boo - tay or Be-yoot

Sparked off Mexican tough man Librado Andrade, turned down a showdown with fellow Canadian Jean Pascal no less than four times, therer's a feeling just lurking that Bute maybe doesn't like it up him. Goes without saying the chin is right there just waiting to get cracked.


It would always take a good one to beat Froch, and Bute's not in Ward's league imo. Looked good against Johnson but knew him inside out from sparring.


Just like to see Carl fight at his own pace, enjoy himself, up his workrate when he wants, take a breather when he wants, mix it up. Froch has tested himself against the best, this is Bute's first real test. So a little bit of the unknown here for Bute. How invaluable might the Pascal fight have been for him coming into this one, but of course he might not be here today if he'd taken that fight. All riding on this one, nothing like pressure eh. When the going gets tough. You can expect a big fight atmosphere.

If Bute is as good as he's looked in his last few fights than he should win handily enough.
The fact his team are willing to travel to Britain to fight Froch would also suggest that they're obviously confident of victory.
I wouldnt right off Froch completely though. He's a proven world level operator while Bute is still somewhat of an unknown entity.

I've a horrible feeling that Bute wins this and looks good in the process. Subsequently it tarnishes Froch's legacy casting a shadow and the opinion that he lost when put up against the best whilst ignoring his excellent wins along the way.

I don't think Froch is quite good enough for the cream of 168lbbs. Lost to Kessler, lost to Ward, he just doesn't quite have it.

However, he can prove me wrong against Bute because I think he has a sneaky chance. I get the nagging feeling Bute can be clocked and clocked hard on the counter. He leaves his chin in the air after he launches his combos from what I've seen of him but generally his opponents have not been anywhere near good enough to make him pay. Beating punch bags like Andrade and Jean Paul Mendy should not provide him with adequate preparation to face the likes of Froch. However the issue is whether Froch carries enough of a dig.

did anyone hear that Bute might have respitory issues now? Someone said it on another site, but gwve no evidence of this being true. Find it hard to believe that he would even consider fighting if he had an injury this close to a fight, personally

Butes left hook is ferocious, he doesn't need to get around Froch's chin if he hits him with a fair few of them.

Incredibly accurate puncher too, he steps off and lets them fly in a flurry but they're not straight punches so its difficult for his opponents to judge when to stop the guard and push forward.

Bit relentless actually.

I think Bute UD, not as wide as Ward, but probably 116 - 112

JabMachineMK2 wrote:Butes left hook is ferocious, he doesn't need to get around Froch's chin if he hits him with a fair few of them.

Incredibly accurate puncher too, he steps off and lets them fly in a flurry but they're not straight punches so its difficult for his opponents to judge when to stop the guard and push forward.

Bit relentless actually.

I think Bute UD, not as wide as Ward, but probably 116 - 112

seems a popular opinion.

The script certainly says Bute points - but I just think this might be "one of those nights" but only if Froch has something left in the tank

When is the behind the ropes episode? Sky were doing one

Boxing Lab Radio are kind of idiots. Get this. Bute has come to England and planned to hide out before the Froch fight, as far as I am aware. These burks call him and leave it on speaker, identifying that he is at the Sheffield Hilton and then, ask the reception to transfer them to his room, and name the room number????? So, they have just told everybody who listens to their show, where Bute is and what room!!! Idiots.

Surely only a good thing for Froch though, no?

AlexHuckerby wrote:Surely only a good thing for Froch though, no?

Yeah but jeez, idiotic of those boxing lab guys. I don't normally listen to that show, just did cos Bute was on. if Froch fans wanted to, they could harrass him. It's not like that with this fight, and I don't know how many even listent o that show, but how unprofessional. On a side not, Bte seems perfectly up for this. Seems very much aware of all the things he will have to overcome, except for the stupid boxing lab guys, haha

I like Froch and would love him to win, but for me its Bute by stoppage win in the middle rounds.

I think Bute will take him too, Hogey. But I can't see him stopping him. If he stops him, his stock seriously rises. I think if that happens, he's then viewed as a genuine threat to Wardy.