In Praise of Lucian Bute and His Effective Use of the Body Shot

No matter Lucian Bute packs 15,000 fans into the Bell Center in Montreal, or that he has beat more top ten super middleweights than any other fighter at that weight, Lucian Bute continues to be overlooked. Maybe this is a result of his affable demeanor and his aversion to trash-talking. Nonetheless, as a 6'2 southpaw, the talented Romanian possesses power in both hands, head movement, and speed - all the ingredients of a great fighter.

However, taking a closer examination of Bute's wins, what is striking is his successful use of the body shot to stop his opponents. It's rare when a body shot ends a fight by itself, but Bute has ended numerous fights with carefully timed punches to the body. Indeed, 7 of Bute's 25 professional fights (a whopping 28%) have ended by way of a monstrous left hook to the liver.

Although Bute began implementing the body shot as an amateur, probably the first time he used it as a professional to cause a stoppage was in his fourth fight on April 24, 2004, when Bute stopped Zane Marks with a torturous body blow. Video is here:



Although in his third fight, Bute started the barrage of punches that eventually silenced Jeal Pascal Service with a terrific punch to the body, seen here:



In his sixth fight, Bute sent Rico Cason down four times with painful body punches to stop him in the second round. Unfortunately, video of this fight isn't available.

Bute now with a record of 12-0, fought Donny McCrary of Contender fame. Bute dispatched McCrary in the fourth round with a menacing blow to the body. It can be viewed here:



Three fights later, on December 2, 2005, Bute faced Donnell Wiggins (24-6) of Covington, Tennesse. The fight ended in similar fashion, when in the second round Bute sent Wiggins to the canvas in pain from a body shot. Notice Wiggins clutching at his sides after the count is over:



Thanks to Chris4Pres (http://www.youtube.com/user/chris4pres) for the footage in this post.

And then again in his battle with Fulgencio Zuniga, Bute viciously put Zuniga down with a body blow:



It was the same left hook that spelled doom for many of his previous opponents that felled Librado Anrade this past weekend. See it here:



Bute's record can be found here:

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=223046&cat=boxer