IBF Super Middleweight Champion Lucian “Le Tombeur” Bute, the undefeated Canadian favorite, defended his title against Jesse Brinkley (35-5) at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. “I’m ready,” promised the champion before the fight. “We spent six weeks in Florida to train. I’m prepared. I took it seriously, and it will be quite a show.” Mandatory challenger Brinkley had won 9 fights in a row and is best known for his stint on the Contender before this bout. He had his own take before the fight: “It doesn’t bother me that people think I’m the underdog,” he said. “Lucian has his hands full with me.”

Round 1: Both men spent the round feeling each other out. It was a slow round with several feints, neither man opening up. Bute looks substantially taller than Brinkley.

Round 2: Brinkley not gambling in this round but trying to get in and out. Bute pressed forward most of the round keeping Jesse in retreat mode. He was looking for the left hook but it was just short but each man found time to open up a bit. Single jabs and two punch combos, the old one-two, for both guys landed. Bute advanced more, cutting off the ring, but nothing conclusive happened.

Round 3: The southpaw, Bute, landed a decent left hand early this round, but Brinkley backed him up in response. Bute keeps his lead right hand very low, jabbing from the waist, but Brinkley doesn’t take the bait. Then with 20 seconds left in the round, Bute landed two uppercuts and a hard left handed body shot that woke up the crowd. The slugging might begin now.

Round 4: It looks like Bute is trying to set Jesse up for a big shot. Brinkley landed a couple early points but a left hook from the champ inspired chants of “Bute, Bute” from the crowd. Brinkley is starting to work his way inside and lands his own uppercut combination, but Lucian was unfazed.

Round 5: Bute pushing the action now, working forward, and pushing a straight left down the pipe. The crowd is silent in anticipation as their man steps up the pace. Still, not a lot is landing as both guys focus on their lateral movement, jumping in and out. A Bute left uppercut goes nowhere, but you feel as though Brinkely is doing all he can while Lucian still has more. Then with 20 seconds left he proves it and drops Brinkley with a terrific uppercut to the body. A long count by the ref allowed Jesse time to rise and the round ends. The line is drawn in the sand now. The only question is how much longer it will last.

Round 6: Bute comes out fast and furious with 4 and 5 punch combinations. He’s testing if Brinkley has his legs, but the challenger stays upright. Bute is throwing multiple jabs then digging to the body and Brinkley doesn’t like it. But he stays upright and holds his own, though clearly losing the round. It’s a tribute to his high conditioning that he’s still in there.

Round 7: The IBF champ is on a higher level than Brinkley is. Bute is mixing up combinations and ring control and clearly has higher skill in the ring. Jesse has fewer variables, but he’s using them for all he’s worth. Brinkley rushes in several times this round with double jabs followed with hooks to the body and head. Bute throws fewer shots this round, but is more accurate. Brinkley is still here.

Round 8: Brinkley’s glove is coming untaped causing a slight delay early. Bute lands some thudding left hands on Brinkley, cutting his eye, but Brinkley still works in and lands some shots. Bute gets his man on the ropes and works him over to the thrill of the crowd and a crushing left uppercut to the chin puts Brinkley down again with blood spurting all over. Brinkley smiles, gets up, pounds his chest, and calls for more. But the doctor checks him out in the neutral corner and the round ends.

Round 9: Bute comes out in sparring mode for the first half of the round, as in all the rounds so far, getting nothing done. But even then Brinkley lands nothing of significance. Bute is searching for another uppercut and Jesse is wary of boxing close. Finally he tries to push in and catches yet ANOTHER left uppercut, the one Bute wanted, and goes down on his face. The ref wisely waves it off, but it could’ve been a 10 second count out since Brinkley was definitely not going to make it up.

Lucian Bute defends his belt with a 9th round knockout. And STILL IBF Champion of the world!

Coming into the fight Bute’s numbers were 26 wins, 21 by knockout, and zero losses. In his previous three fights he knocked out Fulgencio Zuniga, Librado Andrade in a rematch, and Edison Miranda. The biggest name missing from the Super Six Showtime tournament, Bute has been happy to stay home in Canada and defend his IBF belt on HBO television. However, most commentators believe Bute will face off with the S6 winner once that tournament is complete and will clean up this exciting division, though there’s also talk of Kelly Pavlik moving up from 160 pounds to face Bute, perhaps at a catch weight.

Undercard:

Romanian born Ionut Dan Ion knocked out Andres Pablo Villafane in a welterweight contest on the undercard. It was a scheduled 10 rounder but the winner, Ionut, wasn’t willing to wait that long to get back to winning ways. Ion is now 27-1 with this being his first comeback fight since losing four months ago to undefeated Selcuk Aydin by split decision. “Jo Jo Dan” Ion now has his fifteenth knockout to his credit and the southpaw will surely look to rematch Aydin as soon as possible.

Also playing a supporting role was a fight between local favorite Adrian Diaconu and Omar Sheika of New Jersey. Sheika had won 3 fights in a row coming into tonight after losing by 5th round TKO to Roy Jones Jr. This was Adrian’s first night in the ring since back to back losses to compatriot Jean Pascal and it didn’t start pretty. In the second round Diaconu ate a huge right hand from underdog Sheika that staggered him and he chose to take a knee. He then rallied for the final 25 seconds of the round landing huge shots of his own until the final moment when Sheika wobbled him yet again. The remainder of the fight was a solid, back-n-forth slugfest until the final bell at which time “The Shark” Diaconu was announced the winner by UD. A valiant effort by both competitors, worth seeing.

1. Preview: Bute vs Brinkley
2. Bute will defend against Brinkley on October 15th
3. Brinkley-Bute/Pavlik-Martinez Coming Soon