Lucian Bute v. Jesse Brinkley

It’s hard not to admire Contender alum Jesse Brinkley for standing toe-to-toe with a man he termed a “beast” before the fight, but despite a game effort Brinkley was laid low by a series of body shots from IBF super middleweight champ Lucian Bute on Friday night.

Fighting in his adopted hometown Montreal the Romanian transplant was clinical, flooring Brinkley three times before the American begged off in the ninth round. Brinkley’s inexplicable inability to absorb shots to his core may have finally put an end to his search for a world title. After waiting 13 years it will be small comfort to Brinkley to know his opponent has left better men looking worse after much shorter fights.

For his part Bute never looked bothered by the smaller man and the fight felt more like a tune-up than a mandatory defense against a top-ranked challenger. So it goes in boxing these days, where a sanctioning body’s rankings can often bear little resemblance to reality. But in Bute’s defense, most of the opponents the public would like to see him fight have been tied up in Showtime’s Super Six for the better part of the last two years.

Word is Bute’s people are in talks with Kelly Pavlik for a bout on the undercard of the December Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito pay-per-view card at Cowboys Stadium. If it happens it’s hard to see “The Ghost” putting up much more of a challenge than Brinkley, especially considering the beating he took at 154 lbs. from the smaller but speedy Sergio Martinez.

A unification bout for Bute against Andre Ward or whoever wins the Super Six looks at least two years away at this point, but perhaps a Montreal mega-fight with light heavyweight champ Jean Pascal would deliver the kind payday he is looking for before taking on a real challenge. Personally I think Bute is the slicker fighter but Pascal’s strength and raw talent may be too much for the smaller man.

Either way the card would promise to be the biggest draw in Montreal since Maurice “Rocket” Richard hung up his skates.