By Michael Collins: Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye is siding with Carl Froch (28-2, 20 KO’s) to defeat IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute tomorrow night in their fight in Nottingham, UK. Haye thinks Frioch’s chin and heart will bring him ultimately to victory in a tough fight.
Haye said to Sportinglife.com “A win will put him [Froch] right back at the top of the division. And although Bute is very good in his own right, I have every faith in Carl and believe he can outwork the champion over the course of 12 rounds…Carl has the chin and the heard to go blow to blow with most in his weight class, and I don’t see anything special in Bute that would make me doubt Carl’s chances…He [Froch] can overwhelm him on Saturday.”
Haye typically predicts victory for Froch in all of his fights, so this isn’t a big deal that Haye is predicting yet another win for Froch.
Froch had better try very hard to overwhelm Bute, because if he allows him to dance around on the outside all night, Froch will lose badly. Bute is good at hitting and moving away quickly before his opponent is able to land anything. Froch didn’t look good at chasing Andre Dirrell around the ring in their fight in 2009. Froch also had problems with the little bit of movement that Andre Ward showed him last December.
Froch is a lot better fighter when he has someone standing in front of him fighting in a traditional style. Bute is dangerous because he can stop quickly when he’s backing up and land devastating uppercuts and body shots. If Froch rushes in blindly while chasing Bute, he could end up getting taken out with one of Bute’s body shots. I have no doubt that Froch will be able to take Bute’s uppercuts to the head, but the body shots could be a real problem for Froch. Getting hit in the midsection by a fighter as powerful as Bute is something Froch hasn’t dealth with before.