Bute Batters Zuniga at the Bell Centre

Posted by Patrick Mullin on 03.14.2009

Hometown boy makes good against challenger on ShoBox.


Photos by Tom Casino / Showtime

Redemption is a feeling that's arguably unmatchable in terms of the joy it brings to an individual, most especially in the realm of sports. After one of the most controversial fights in recent memory that blemished 11 rounds of near perfection, Lucian Bute set out to erase the doubts surrounding his abilities Friday night at the Bell Centre in his native Montreal, Quebec.

The opposition was former two time world title challenger Fulgencio Zuniga. A rough and tumble Columbian looking to claim a world title that had eluded him through 26 professional bouts. Zuniga entered the unfriendly surroundings of the Bell Centre waving both the flag of his home country and his opponents in a gesture of respect, with a video screen showing his photo and name. Conversely, a laser light show, rock entrance music, entourage with models, and a WWE Titan Tron-esque video accompanied the champion to the very same ring he had nearly collapsed against Librado Andrade in just mere months ago.

The pressure was on the champion to make this fight look like a new one, and not round 13 of his bout with Andrade, who was seated close to the ring anxiously awaiting the fight to begin. After the particulars from the ring announcer and referee Lindsay Page's final instructions, the Bell Centre rose to its feet cheering the bell signaling the start of the fight.

The challenger came out aggressively throwing jabs and following with right hands at the champion, perhaps trying to finish the job many felt Andrade had started in round 12 of his bout with Bute. Lucian however would have none of it, using excellent footwork to avoid his heavy-handed opposition, he countered with stiff southpaw jabs and winging right hands to keep Zuniga off balance to control the round.

Bute didn't let up at all in round 2. His footwork and jab controlled not only the pace, but the distance as well. He began to let his hands go a little more freely, firing off some lead left crosses. Zuniga tried to land anything he could but had no luck, and offered nothing substantial enough to back the champion off and was hit with punches at will with no answer, while being constantly kept off balance and unable to plant his feet to load up on power shots.

The first two rounds had the crowd fully behind the hometown hero and they gave him the confidence to fire away on his seemingly outgunned challenger. Bute immediately came out firing lead left hands with both cross and uppercut variations, and working behind his dominating jab. Bute was able to mix up his punches and land at will on Zuniga, who despite claiming he had figured out Bute from sparring sessions they'd had the previous year, had no answer to anything Bute threw at him.

Between rounds three and four, Zuniga's corner was simply advising him to look for a home run shot and try to end it, assuming Zuniga had the power to hurt and finish Lucian Bute with one blow. The ironic ending would come shortly afterward, when an aggressive Bute landed a flush left uppercut to the solar plexus of Zuniga that painfully dropped him to the canvas.

Initially the ShoBox broadcast team of Nick Charles and Steve Farhood thought it was a low blow due to the expression on Zuniga's face and the way he went down, and were confused when referee Lindsay Page began administering a count to Zuniga on the canvas. Zuniga rose at 9 in what was deemed by many to be a slow count, but he would only be hit with more flush shots from the champion forcing Page to call a halt to the bout at 2:25 of round four.

After the impressive showing, Bute moving to 24-0 (19) thanked ShoBox for being with him, on a great night for him. He proceeded to talk about how he took Zuniga very seriously and he and his corner felt that the body work would win them the fight, which it did. When asked by Steve Farhood about Andrade and a potential rematch, Bute immediately wished the best for his former foe in his upcoming elimination bout, and hoped to be able to rematch him in the fall to erase any doubts left in the mind of the people.

For Zuniga, he drops to 22-4-1 (19), and is now 0-3 in world title tries, including two previous title clashes with Dennis Inkin and Daniel Santos, and had also suffered a loss to current middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik after suffering a cut which his corner ruled too bad for him to continue, after dropping Pavlik early. This was the first time Zuniga had been stopped by an opponent without being cut.