By Ian S Palmer
Badou Jack of Sweden will be defending his WBC Super Middleweight Championship against Romanian southpaw Lucian Bute at the DC Armory in Washington DC this Saturday, April 30th. The 12-round bout can be seen live in the U.S. on the Showtime network while fans in the UK can catch all of the action live on Sky Sports. Jack, who now fights out of Las Vegas, won the title from American Anthony Dirrell a year ago via a unanimous decision and then defended it with another decision against England’s George Groves. Bute, who now fights out of Quebec, Canada, was beaten by IBF Champion James DeGale of England by unanimous decision last November.
The 32-year-old Jack enters the ring with a record of 20-1-1 with 12 Kos and has won four bouts in a row. Jack possesses a good jab, decent power and is a good counterpuncher. He’s not a spectacular boxer, but is a solid one. The only loss on his record came at the hands of Derek Edwards via a first-round stoppage in February of 2014. Jack has as habit of dropping his hands and sometimes lunging in and he’ll need to keep these traits to a minimum against Bute. The 36-year-old Bute is a former IBF champion who reigned for five years and climbs through the ropes with a mark of 32-3 along with 25 Kos.
Bute’s 3-3 in his last six outings with losses to DeGale, Jean Pascal and Carl Froch and with Froch stopping him in the fifth round in 2012. Bute’s lost all three career fights in the past four years as he’s getting older. When at his best, he’s got a varied attack and solid power, but his ability to take a punch has always been a question mark. Jack is 6-feet-1-inch tall and has a 76-inch while Bute is just over 6-feet-1-inch tall with a reach of 72 inches. Jack is a former Olympian who has boxed 118 rounds since turning pro in 2009 and Bute has 238 rounds under his belt since 2003.
Jack has average power and a solid chin as well as plenty of heart and determination while Bute also has the same traits with a weaker chin and more power. If both guys fight up to their potential this should be a pretty good scrap and one which is hard to predict a clear winner. Jack’s current knockout ratio stands at 55 per cent and Bute’s is 71 percent. Bute has defeated some good boxers over the years including Sakio Bika, Alejandro Berrio, William Joppy, Librado Andrade, Fulgencio Zuniga, Edison Miranda, Jesse Brinkley, Jean-Paul Mendy, Glen Johnson and Denis Grachev.
Prediction
Bute is an underrated boxer with good power, but he’s on the downside of his career at this point. DeGale has the age and reach advantage and will need to utilize his boxing skills. Bute’s pretty durable though and he can’t be taken lightly by the champ. This is tough to call since Jack hasn’t really proven he’s a solid champion yet, but this is the perfect opportunity to prove the naysayers wrong. If he can stay busy in all 12 rounds then he should do enough to keep his title by decision with a late stoppage being a slight possibility.
