Carl Froch vs. Lucian Bute

No Easy Way Out
Date26th May 2012
LocationCapital FM Arena, Nottingham, England
Title(s) on the line IBF Super Middleweight Championship

United Kingdom Carl Froch vs. Romania Lucian Bute
The Cobra Le Tombeur
Mister KO
Tale of the tape
Nottingham, England From Pechea, Romania
28-2 (20 KO) Pre-fight record 30-0-0 (24 KO)
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
167 lb (11 st 13 lb; 76 kg) Weight 167
IBF's number 1 contender and the mandatory challenger
2-time former WBC Super Middleweight Champion
Recognition IBF Super Middleweight Champion

Result Froch beats Bute by KO in 5th round

Carl Froch vs. Lucian Bute, billed as No Easy Way Out, was a championship fight for Bute's IBF Super Middleweight title. The bout was held on 26 May 2012, at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England.[1]

The card was a co-production of Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing and Jean Bedard's Interbox promotions and televised via Epix and Sky Sports.[2][3] Showtime was not interested in this fight. Bute has one fight left on his Showtime deal. Rumours said that Showtime wanted to put on a fight between Lucian Bute and Bernard Hopkins or Andre Ward instead of Froch.[4]

Background

Froch

Carl Froch was involved in Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament. He ended up reaching the final, losing to Andre Ward. Then, IBF officially enforced Carl Froch as Lucian Bute's number one mandatory.[5]

Bute

Lucian Bute's 3-fight Showtime deal was supposed to culminate in a showdown against the Super 6, but Andre Ward was injured in the final. The American also criticised Bute's record, saying he would need to beat some top opponents to earn the right to face him

Bute agreed then to take a break from his contract with the Showtime channel and to accept what may end up being less than half his usual purse in order to travel to England to face Carl Froch, a two-time WBC champion with established credibility.

"In recent years, I've been criticized for only fighting at home but we never got offers to go elsewhere and I had to keep boxing," Bute said. "I decided that this time, I'll make my 10th defence in Nottingham."[6]

The Fight

Despite being the overwhelming underdog with bookmakers, critics and fans around the world, Froch dominated the fight to win the IBF Super-Middleweight championship of the world by TKO in round 5 to become a three-time world champion.[7][8][9][10]

Fight card

International broadcasting

Country Broadcaster
Argentina Argentina Combate Space
Australia Australia Main Event
Canada Canada Canal Indigo
Chile Chile Combate Space
Colombia Colombia Combate Space
Costa Rica Costa Rica Combate Space
Czech Republic Czech Republic Sport 1
Denmark Denmark TV 2 Sport
Ecuador Ecuador Combate Space
Estonia Estonia Viasat Sport Baltic
Guyana Guyana Combate Space
Hungary Hungary Sport 1
Latvia Latvia Viasat Sport Baltic
Lithuania Lithuania Viasat Sport Baltic
Mexico Mexico Combate Space
Norway Norway Viasat Sport
Panama Panama Combate Space
Paraguay Paraguay Combate Space
Peru Peru Combate Space
Poland Poland Canal+ Sport
Romania Romania The Money Channel
Slovakia Slovakia Sport 1
South Africa South Africa SuperSport
Sweden Sweden TV10
United Kingdom United Kingdom Sky Sports
United States United States Epix
Uruguay Uruguay Combate Space
Venezuela Venezuela Combate Space

References

  1. ESPN. ESPN.go.com. Retrieved on 2012-03-02
  2. Boxing Scene. BoxingScene.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-02
  3. Sky Sports. SkySports.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-19
  4. Boxing News 24. BoxingNews24.com. Retrieved on 2012-01-16
  5. "IBF make Carl Froch the number one mandatory to Bute". LiveFight. February 9, 2012.
  6. Sports Net. SportsNet.ca. Retrieved on 2012-03-21
  7. "Carl Froch hits back at critics.".
  8. "Underdog Froch demolishes Bute".
  9. "Froch unhapy about bookmakers having him as the underdog against Bute.".
  10. "Froch annihilates unbeaten Bute". Daily Mail (London). 2012-05-27.

External links

Preceded by
vs. Andre Ward
Carl Froch's bouts
26 May 2012
Succeeded by
vs. Yusef Mack
Preceded by
vs. Glen Johnson
Lucian Bute's bouts
26 May 2012
Succeeded by
vs. Denis Grachev