Bute vs. Zuniga Overview

Lucian Bute defends his IBF super middleweight title against tough Fulgencia Zuniga in Montreal, Canada on Friday night, televised on Showtime. 

Bute finds himself in with another hard headed forward moving slugger with Zuniga. You see, Bute is coming off a controversial win over Librado Andrade where Bute was outpointing Andrade for most of the fight but the determined Andrade kept fighting and nearly scored a last second KO over the exhausted Bute. Bute was dropped and nearly out but with a little help from his friends, ref Marlon B. (Wrong) Wright, was saved by the bell and retained the title.

And for Zuniga to win he will have to apply pressure all night and hope he can wear down Bute late in the fight. But Bute, a tall southpaw, is a difficult opponent because he of his excellent skills, movement and speed. Bute has the advantage of better hand speed than most opponents he fights and he is difficult to target because he does have good movement. And he will make lunging opponents pay with fast accurate combinations.

Zuniga is cast out of the same mold of Andrade. He’s not a naturally talented fighter but he has an anvil for a chin and applies constant pressure. But I do think Andrade is a better all around fighter than Zuniga and has a more diversified attack.  Zuniga was once a Jr. middleweight but seems to be in the proper weight class as a super middleweight. He’s been fighting well in this division and gave former champion Denis Inkin a very good test for the vacant WBO crown. But Zuniga came up short fighting on the road and lost the decision. Zuniga is strong, has a great chin, keeps a good pace but is a bit slower than the best guys in the division.

Zuniga wasn’t  mandatory defense so he was chosen for a reason by Bute. He’s solid enough to be considered credible but he probably isn’t talented enough to get the job done against  Bute. I expect Zuniga to give it all he has but I just don’t think it will be enough. I think he will be out boxed and will have trouble landing flush on the moving Bute. Bute does seem to tire late in some of his fights and that will be Zuniga’s best chance to make something happen. But I think Bute will stink things out when he has to by holding and sliding away.

Bute has a lot of stoppages because early on he fought inferior opposition. But when he stepped up in class his fights began to go many rounds. And Bute is content to box intelligently use the whole ring. And against Zuniga, that would be the right way to do it. He has gone to at least the 10^th round in 7 of his last 8 fights, including five12 round decisions. He even let badly faded former champ William Joppy hang around until the 10^th round. Conventional wisdom says teak tough Zuniga goes rounds. As such, I’m looking for a Bute win, probably by decision.

Note: Win or lose, I won’t apply this to the Track Record as I ‘m not going to recommend laying better than 2-1 on this over/under.