A flashback to Quebec’s other major combat sports star at the time.
We’re headed up to the Great White North for the first time in this Sunday Punch series. Part of this is to just take us back to how buzzing the Quebec fight scene was for both MMA and boxing.
At the same time Georges St-Pierre established himself as a UFC superstar, Lucian Bute was an undefeated and heavy-handed super-middleweight champion who usually fought at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Bute had a somewhat controversial win over Mexico’s Librado Andrade in October 2008, winning a decision but surviving a knockdown at the end of the 12th round with the aid of an extended count by referee Marlon B. Wright. Andrade had ventured away from a neutral corner, so Wright paused the count to warn him about that offense before restarting the count at six. Bute survived and won a decision that was very close to being a KO loss in a fight he was comfortably winning.
Those two had a rematch on November 28th, 2009 (again in Montreal) as part of an HBO Boxing After Dark special. The iron-chinned Andrade was decked by a Bute left hand in the fourth round. It was only the second time he’d ever been knocked down in his career. Andrade would beat the count but towards the end of the round, Bute broke him (and probably his insides) with a devastating body punch that kept him down for good. Bute left no doubt who was the better man through two bouts.
Watch the highlights at the top of the page. Don’t you just love a Montreal crowd getting behind its fighter? The roar of approval is truly special.
Bute would lose his IBF belt to Carl Froch in May 2012 and really never recovered from that point on. He retired after a TKO defeat to Eleider Alvarez in 2017, leaving the sport with a record of 32-5 (25 KOs). Andrade (31-5, 24 KOs) never fought for a major title again, having gone 0-3 combined against Bute and Mikkel Kessler, and retired with a win in his native Mexico in 2013.