Andrade back to take Bute's title after near miss
Librado Andrade, whose last-round flurry last year nearly took Lucian Bute's super middleweight title, enters Saturday's rematch confident he will claim the International Boxing Federation crown.
Unbeaten Romanian-born southpaw Bute, 24-0 with 19 knockouts, is a Canadian hero who has lured a sellout crowd of 16,000 to Le Colisee just 13 months after a unanimous decision over Mexican Andrade, 28-2 with one draw and 21 knockouts.
Bute dominated Andrade in Montreal until the final 90 seconds when the challenger unleashed a desperate comeback that nearly dethroned the champion. Bute hung on to the final bell. Andrade could only wish for a few more seconds.
"I'm not really mad. I'm not disappointed. I did what I had to do in that fight," Andrade said on Tuesday. "I know I did it. I'm going to put it behind me. I'm taking it as a brand new opportunity. I'm going to take advantage of it.
"I'm not fighting the man. I'm fighting for my dream."
Howard Grant, Andrade's trainer, thought the fight should have been stopped and longs for the upcoming second chance.
"I'm salivating for Saturday night," he said. "There's a score to be settled from last October that will be settled."
Bute, making his fourth title defence, blamed the near-knockout on his mistaken idea to please a supportive crowd and trade late punches in a fight he owned on the scorecards with ease.
"After 12 good rounds, I was simply tired and made a little mistake," Bute said. "It was a tough, physical fight. I stayed in front of him. I wanted to give the people cheering for me a show. That's what happened.
"For sure you will see a different Lucien Bute in the ring Saturday. I will stick to the plan and celebrate with the crowd after the fight. I don't want a repeat of what happened in the first fight."
Andrade saw it differently.
"I think I broke him down," Andrade said. "He can make as many excuses as he wants. At the end he just couldn't keep it up. I got to him. I hit him with shots to make him tired.
"What happened is I ran out of time. I really thought the ref was going to stop the fight. But he didn't. I was too patient. I probably have to be a little more colder.
"I'm hoping to make him fight a little bit harder from the beginning. We all know I get hit but if I make Lucian fight a little bit faster, a little bit earlier, I can accomplish what I want."
Andrade, whose only other loss came to Mikkel Kessler in Denmark in 2007, would become the first world champion from Mexico in the super middleweight division.
"I want to be the first one," he said. "It means a lot to me."
Bute was respectful but equally determined.
"Librado is a hard opponent, a good opponent, but I will be the champion on Saturday night," Bute said. "The belt will stay in Quebec."
Bute was the only major champion in the division snubbed for the ongoing "Super Six" promotion featuring top US and European fighters. Asked where he thought he stood among the division's fighters, Bute said, "I'm number one."
The undercard features South African Ali Funeka, 30-2-2 with 25 knockouts, fighting undefeated Dominican Joan Guzman, 29-0 with 17 knockouts, for the vacant IBF lightweight crown.
