Lucian Bute (born February 28, 1980) is a Romanian-Canadian former
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
who competed from 2003 to 2017. He held the
IBF super-middleweight
Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ...
title from 2007 to 2012, successfully making nine consecutive defenses and reaching a peak ranking of number one in the division by ''
The Ring'' magazine.
Personal life
Lucian Bute was born on February 28, 1980 in
Pechea
Pechea is a Commune in Romania, commune in Galați County, Western Moldavia, Romania with a population of 11,199 people. It is composed of two villages, Lupele and Pechea.
Natives
* Lucian Bute
* Steluța Luca
* Costică Silion
External links
...
,
Galați County
Galați () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Moldavia region, with the capital city at Galați.
History
Historically Galați is part of Moldavia. In 1858, it was represented by Alexandru Ioan Cuza at the '' ad hoc Divan'' at Iași, in the ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
. After fighting for the Romanian national team as an amateur, winning multiple titles in both his homeland and abroad, Bute relocated to
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...
, Canada.
He also holds
Canadian citizenship
Canadian nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of Canada. With few exceptions, almost all individuals born in the country are automatically citizens at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in ...
as of 2012.
He is the cousin of handball player
Steluța Luca. She was also born in
Pechea
Pechea is a Commune in Romania, commune in Galați County, Western Moldavia, Romania with a population of 11,199 people. It is composed of two villages, Lupele and Pechea.
Natives
* Lucian Bute
* Steluța Luca
* Costică Silion
External links
...
,
Galați County
Galați () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Moldavia region, with the capital city at Galați.
History
Historically Galați is part of Moldavia. In 1858, it was represented by Alexandru Ioan Cuza at the '' ad hoc Divan'' at Iași, in the ...
.
Amateur career
As an
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist.
History
...
, Bute won the bronze medal at the
1999 World Amateur Boxing Championships in
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
and the gold medal at the
2001 Francophone Games. Bute also represented Romania at the
2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships
The men's 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships were held in Bangkok, Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indoch ...
in
Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
as a
middleweight
Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing Professional
In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to .
Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...
, where he was defeated and eliminated from the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championship by the current middleweight champion
Gennady Golovkin
Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin ( Cyrillic: ; also spelled Gennady; born 8 April 1982), often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-ti ...
with a superb knockout at round 4. Before KO Golovkin, who won 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championship, was outpointing Bute with 13 points.
1999 World Amateur Championship results
*Defeated
Nurhan Süleymanoğlu (Turkey) 9-5
*Defeated Mihály Kótai (Hungary) 8-4
*Defeated Kejstutis Sandanavicius (Lithuania) 18-5
*Lost to Timur Gaydalov (Russia) 7-10
2003 World Amateur Championship results
*Lost to
Gennady Golovkin
Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin ( Cyrillic: ; also spelled Gennady; born 8 April 1982), often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-ti ...
(Kazakhstan) KO-4
Bute claimed an amateur record of 235–15.
Professional career
Lucian Bute turned pro in 2003. On September 11, 2014, Bute announced that he would be trained by
Fredie Roach. He was previously trained by
Stéphan Larouche, who also trained former world champions
Éric Lucas and
Leonard Doroftei
Leonard Dorin Doroftei (, also known as ''Leonard Dorin''; born 10 April 1970) is a Romanian
former boxer, the WBA Lightweight World Champion from 5 January 2002 to 24 October 2003.
Amateur highlights
Doroftei took up boxing at the age of 14 a ...
.
IBF super-middleweight champion
On June 15, 2007, Bute faced
super middleweight
Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pound ...
contender and former Olympian
Sakio Bika
Sakio Bika (born 18 April 1979) is a Cameroonian-born Australian professional boxer. He held the WBC super-middleweight title from 2013 to 2014, and previously the IBO super-middleweight title from 2008 to 2010. In 2015 he challenged once for ...
at the Bell Centre in Montreal in an elimination bout for the
IBF title. Bute beat Bika by unanimous decision (116-111, 118-109, 118-109) and, as a result, he got his shot at the
IBF Super Middleweight Champion
Alejandro Berrio
Alejandro Berrio Hernández (born August 7, 1976) is a Colombian professional boxer.
Professional career
Known as "Ñaco", Berrio turned pro in 1997 and won the Vacant IBF Super Middleweight Title with a TKO win over Robert Stieglitz in earl ...
on October 19, 2007. Bute beat Berrio via TKO in the 11th round. With this victory, Bute became the third professional boxing world champion of Romania in its short history after the fall of communism after
Leonard Doroftei
Leonard Dorin Doroftei (, also known as ''Leonard Dorin''; born 10 April 1970) is a Romanian
former boxer, the WBA Lightweight World Champion from 5 January 2002 to 24 October 2003.
Amateur highlights
Doroftei took up boxing at the age of 14 a ...
and
Mihai Leu and also the third champion in InterBox's history after
Eric Lucas
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
and Dorin.
Bute vs. Andrade and last-round controversy
On October 24, 2008, Bute defeated Mexico's
Librado Andrade
Librado Andrade Ornelas (born September 2, 1978) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2013, and challenged three times for a super middleweight world title between 2007 and 2009. His brother Enrique Ornelas is also a ...
by unanimous decision but the end of the fight was marred with controversy. Andrade became Bute's
mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champ ...
by defeating
Robert Stieglitz. While Bute dominated his opponent through most of the fight, he nearly lost the title when he was knocked down by Andrade with two seconds left in the 12th and final round. When the referee, Marlon B. Wright, reached the eight count, the bell sounding the end of the match rang. However, the referee stopped the count temporarily when he signaled Andrade to return to his corner.
Bute vs. Zúñiga
Bute defeated three-time world title challenger
Fulgencio Zúñiga
Fulgencio Zúñiga (; born July 23, 1977) is a Colombian professional boxer and former IBO super middleweight champion.
Early career
Fulgencio Zúñiga made his first national appearance in 1997 in the 48th National Boxing Tournament held in ...
on March 13, 2009. In round four, Bute knocked Zúñiga down with a left uppercut to the body. Zúñiga got up, but Bute continued the assault, eventually leading to a stoppage by the referee.
Bute vs. Andrade II
On November 29, 2009, Lucian Bute fought Andrade in a rematch and won with a fourth-round KO at Colisee Pepsi in
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...
, Canada. Bute retained his
IBF Super Middleweight title. The first three rounds saw Andrade as the aggressor and Bute played the role of counter-puncher, as had been the case in the first fight. HBO's unofficial scorecard had Bute up 30-27 after the 3rd round. In round 4, Bute slipped an overhand right from Andrade and landed a heavy left hand to the jaw sending him heavily to the canvas. Andrade beat the count but was soon caught by a left hook to the body that sent him down for the count at 2:57 of round 4.
Bute vs. Miranda, Brinkley
On April 17, 2010, Bute stopped
Edison Miranda at 1:22 of the third round to retain his IBF Super Middleweight title in Montreal in front of nearly 15,000 fans. Miranda lost the first two rounds and he was knocked out during the third round with a left uppercut to the jaw. Miranda got back on his feet but the referee decided to stop the fight seconds after, so the result was a technical knockout.
On October 15, at the
Bell Centre
Bell Centre (), formerly known as Molson Centre (), is a multi-purpose arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened on March 16, 1996, it is the home arena of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL), replacing the Montr ...
in
Montréal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...
, IBF Super Middleweight Champion Lucian Bute scored an impressive ninth round KO over mandatory challenger
Jesse Brinkley
Jesse Lee Brinkley (born November 14, 1976) is an American professional boxer. He challenged once for the IBF Super Middleweight title in 2010.
Personal life
Brinkley comes from the town of Yerington, Nevada, where he is an active hunter and ...
. It was mostly a tactical fight until Bute dropped Brinkley with a left uppercut to the body in round five. Brinkley barely beat the count. Bute floored Brinkley for the second time in round eight and knocked him out with an uppercut in round nine. It was Bute's sixth title defense.
Bute vs. Magee
Bute dominated and stopped European Super Middleweight Champion
Brian Magee in the 10th round in a mostly one-sided fight at the
Bell Centre
Bell Centre (), formerly known as Molson Centre (), is a multi-purpose arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened on March 16, 1996, it is the home arena of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL), replacing the Montr ...
in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
, Quebec. Magee showed incredible heart throughout and had some good moments in the earlier rounds. However, Bute wore
Magee Magee may refer to:
People
* Magee (surname)
Places and institutions
* Magee, Mississippi, a city in Simpson County, Mississippi, U.S.
* Magee, New York, also known as Magee's Corners, a hamlet in the Town of Tyre, Seneca County, New York, U.S.
* ...
down, knocking him down three times – once in the 6th, another time in the 7th and a final time in the 10th. Bute won the fight with an uppercut in the 10th round. The bout was stopped at 2:04 of the round. The fight took place on March 19, 2011. This was Bute's seventh successful defense in a row.
Bute vs. Mendy
Bute successfully defended his IBF Super Middleweight title for the eighth time in a row in
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
on 9 July 2011 against the previously unbeaten
Jean-Paul Mendy
Jean-Paul Mendy (born December 14, 1973 in Mantes-la-Jolie, Yvelines) is a professional boxer from France, who won the bronze medal in the middleweight division (– 75 kg) at the 1997 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Budapest, Hun ...
of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. The Frenchman was the IBF's number one contender and the mandatory challenger. This was Bute's first defense in
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
and his second fight there since 2005. The event took place at Romexpo and Bute won in the fourth round by knockout.
Bute vs. Johnson
Bute defeated
Glen Johnson (51-15-2, 35 KOs) via unanimous decision at Québec City's
Colisée Pepsi Colisée may refer to: Canada
* Colisée de Québec, also known as Colisée Pepsi, Quebec City
* Colisée Cardin, Sorel-Tracy
* Colisée Desjardins, Victoriaville
* Colisée Financière Sun Life, Rimouski
* Colisée Jean Béliveau, Longueuil
* Col ...
. The judges scorecards read 119-109 and 120-108 twice.
Bute vs. Froch
The
IBF officially enforced
Carl Froch
Carl Martin Froch, (born 2 July 1977) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2014, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the W ...
(28-2, 20 KOs) as Bute's number one mandatory. The fight, billed as ''No Easy Way Out'', took place on 26 May 2012 in Froch's hometown of
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
. Despite being the overwhelming underdog with bookmakers, critics and fans around the world, Froch dominated Bute throughout the fight to become the IBF super-middleweight champion via TKO in round five.
Light-heavyweight
Bute vs. Grachev
On November 3, 2012, in his first fight since his loss to Froch, Bute fought
Denis Grachev for the latter's
NABF light heavyweight title. The bout took place in Montreal, Quebec. Despite strong opposition from Grachev, who was very aggressive throughout the fight, Bute was still able to not only narrowly out-box Grachev in a majority of the rounds (including a huge rally in the twelfth and final round that saw him land punches filled with loads of power over and over again on Grachev), but land the harder punches throughout the fight and was able to win the fight via unanimous decision. Unofficial ringside scorer, Russ Anber, scored the fight: 118-112, for Bute.
Bute vs. Pascal, Di Luisa
It was announced that Bute would fight
Jean Pascal on May 25, 2013, in Montreal, Quebec. Bute would be making his first defense of his NABF light heavyweight championship, and the winner of the fight would become the
WBC Diamond
The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federati ...
champion in the class. However, on May 8, 2013, Bute was forced to pull out of the fight due to an injury that required surgery to remove bone fragments from his left hand. The fight was rescheduled for January 18, 2014. Pascal ended up winning the fight by unanimous decision 117-110, 117-111 and 116-112.
On August 15, 2015, coming off a 19-month layoff due in part to a back injury, Lucian Bute displayed little signs of ring rust as he stopped
Andrea Di Luisa in four one-sided rounds.
Return to super-middleweight
Bute vs. DeGale
In mid-2015, it was announced that Bute would take part in a title fight against
IBF super-middleweight
Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ...
champion
James DeGale
James Frederick DeGale (born 3 February 1986) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2019. He held the IBF super-middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2018, and regionally the European and British super-middlewe ...
. The fight was DeGale's first defence of the IBF belt, and took place in Bute's adopted home-town of Quebec on 28 November 2015. After 12 rounds, the fight went to the judge's scorecards, and DeGale was awarded a unanimous decision; 116-112, 117-111, 117-111. Despite suffering the third loss of his career, Bute emerged with credit from what several commentators described as an exciting fight.
Bute vs. Jack
On Labor Eve 2016, Bute was named as the replacement for
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to challenge
Badou Jack
Badou Johannes Gabriel Jack (born 31 October 1983) is a Swedish professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC super-middleweight title from 2014 to 2017 and the WBA light-heavyweight title in 2017 ...
for the
WBC Super Middleweight Championship. The bout was declared a
majority draw
A majority draw is an outcome in several full-contact combat sports, including boxing, mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referre ...
and, as such, Bute failed to capture the title. This would also mean Bute's first draw in his entire boxing career.
On May 27, 2016 Bute tested positive for a banned substance
ostarine, which is not an anabolic steroid but is said to increase stamina and recovery ability and produce similar results. It has been on the
World Anti-Doping Agency banned list since 2008.
[Bute tested positive for banned drugs after draw with Jack](_blank)
ESPN , Retrieved May 27, 2016 His B sample came back on August 12, just like his A sample showed in late May, it was positive again for the banned substance.
Bute denied having knowingly taken a banned substance. The Washington commission, following its investigation, went along with Bute's assertion that he ingested the substance due to contamination of nutritional supplements prescribed by Bute's conditioning trainer and created by a laboratory in California.
[Lucian Bute fined $50K by D.C. commission, can resume fighting](_blank)
ESPN , Retrieved November 26, 2016
Subsequently, Bute was allowed to resume his career after a six-month suspension and a $50,000 fine. In-depth analyses has demonstrated beyond all doubt that the positive result of the drug test was due to contamination of nutritional supplements.
On April 24, 2017, the DC commission changed the outcome of the fight to a disqualification win in favour of Jack.
Return to light-heavyweight
Bute vs. Álvarez
Following the two super middleweight world title challenges, Bute announced he would move back up to the light heavyweight division. On December 8, 2016 promoter
Yvon Michel
Yvon Michel is a French Canadian boxing promoter. His company called ''GYM'' (''Groupe Yvon Michel'') is based in Montréal. The 2012 shows in Quebec were called "Fast and Furious".
Roster
His boxers include:
*Adonis Stevenson
* Joachim Alcine ...
announced a deal had been agreed for Bute to fight undefeated light heavyweight contender and WBC #1 ranked fighter
Eleider Álvarez
Eléider Álvarez Baytar (born 8 April 1984) is a Colombian professional boxer who held the WBO light-heavyweight title from 2018 to 2019. As an amateur he won a gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in the light-heavyweight division.
As of ...
on February 24, 2017 at the
Centre Videotron in Quebec, Canada. At the time the fight was made, Álvarez had a scheduled fight with
Norbert Dabrowski on December 10, which he won and a win over Bute would put him in line for a
WBC title match against
Adonis Stevenson
Stevenson Adonis (born 22 September 1977), best known as Adonis Stevenson, is a Haitian Canadian former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2018. He won the WBC, '' Ring'' magazine and lineal light-heavyweight titles in 2013 by defeati ...
in 2017. Bute lost the fight via 5th round stoppage in a fairly competitive fight.
Retirement
After months of pondering whether or not to retire, on March 21, 2019 Bute officially announced his retirement from professional boxing, having not fought in over two years. He retired with a record of 32 wins, with 25 coming inside the distance and 5 losses.
Professional boxing record
References
External links
*
*
Lucian Bute profileat ''
Premier Boxing Champions'' (archived)
Lucian Bute - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankingsa
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bute, Lucian
1980 births
Living people
World super-middleweight boxing champions
International Boxing Federation champions
Romanian sportspeople in doping cases
Canadian sportspeople in doping cases
Doping cases in boxing
Light-heavyweight boxers
Southpaw boxers
Canadian male boxers
People from Galați County
Romanian male boxers
AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists