Bute Gives a Perfect Performance in his Ninth Title Defence
By Jeff Emond Jeffrey
© Photos Courtesy Robert Levesque / A.R. PhotoZone
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On Saturday, November 5, 2011, Interbox presented Lucian Bute versus Glen Johnson from Quebec City, Quebec, live on Showtime PPV. The main event was complemented by six thrilling bouts featuring Pier Olivier Coté, Steve Molitor, Sebastien Gauthier, Sebastien Demers, Kevin Bizier and other talented pugilists. The event marked Lucian Bute’s first contest in Quebec City since his second fight with Librado Andrade. An impressive 15,306 fans were in attendance.
In the twelve round IBF super middleweight championship attraction, defending champion Lucian Bute ( 29-0-0, 24 KO), a native Romanian, now fighting out of Montreal, Quebec, faced the “Road Warrior” Glen Johnson ( 51-15-2, 35 KO), a former IBF light heavyweight champion from Miami, Florida. The contest marked Bute’s ninth title defence and Johnson’s second super middleweight title challenge in a row.
Johnson is a proud warrior with many accomplishments in the ring, including the 2004 fighter of the year award. The “Road Warrior” came into this contest with victories over Roy Jones Jr, Antonio Tarver, Eric Harding and Clinton Woods. Johnson also earned a victory over Allan Green – Sebastien Demers’ opponent on the card – in the Showtime Super Six Tournament. In his sixty-nine fight career, Johnson has been stopped just once, by future hall of famer, Bernard Hopkins in 1997. Bute knew this would be a tough defence. No stranger to success himself, Bute holds notable victories on Edison Miranda, Librado Andrade, William Joppy and Alejandro Berrio. Most recently, Bute needed less than four rounds to stop undefeated contender Jean Paul Mendy (29-0-1) in Romania.
In the early rounds, Bute established his powerful right jab on Johnson, keeping the “Road Warrior” at a distance. Johnson tried his best to get his jab going, but to no avail. Bute was likely trying to bait Johnson into the counter left uppercut trap that dropped Magee, Miranda and Andrade. Bute had no such luck with the crafty veteran, who landed some straight rights, but caused little damage. Bute’s defence turned out to be too tight for Johnson’s attack.
Bute fought methodically, treating the contest like a chess match. One mistake from the champion and Johnson would be all over him. Throughout the fight, Bute’s output increased, as the champion threw more jabs and clean right and left hooks at long distance fat the patient Johnson, looking for openings. Occasionally, the former light heavyweight champion landed clean straight rights, but he was unable to force Bute into an exchange. The champion stuck to his game plan, keeping Johnson from mounting much of an attack by using his southpaw advantage. It was reminiscent of Chad Dawson’s performance against Johnson back in 2009.
When all was said and done, Lucian Bute dominated Glen Johnson with ease and successfully defended his IBF crowd for the ninth time with an unanimous decision victory. The judges’ scorecards were, 120-108 twice and 119-109. Bute will now await the winner of the Super Six final between WBC super middleweight champion Carl “The Cobra” Froch and WBA champion Andre Ward.
Pier Olivier Coté versus Jorge Luis Terron
In the other contest televised on Showtime, light welterweights Pier Olivier Coté ( 17-0-0, 11 KO) of Quebec City, and “The Truth” Jorge Luis 
Teron ( 25-2-1, 17 KO) of the Bronx, clashed for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental light welterweight title. For Coté – affectionately nicknamed “Apou” – it was a chance to show his hometown and the folks at Showtime the extent of his boxing talent. He certainly did not disappoint.
Jorge Luis Teron proved a worthy and dangerous opponent for “Apou.” Since lacing up the gloves, Teron won the New York Golden Gloves three times and is currently trained by former two time WBA welterweight champion, Mark Breland. He also holds a significant victory over Michael Lozada and faced WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios. On the other hand, Coté possesses a fierce style of fighting and possesses a first round knockout win over common foe Michael Lozada and a knockout win over prospect Aris Ambriz in the prestigious MGM Grand of Las Vegas.
The fight proved to be very entertaining. In the first round, Coté unleashed a hell-storm of power shots on a defenceless Teron, who tried to block Coté’s punches with little success. Early in the second and final round of this bout, “Apou” took down ‘’The Truth’’ with a hard straight right, breaking his opponent’s nose in the process. Coté landed a huge right hook to the body of Teron, forcing him to lower his hands to protect his midsection. A lightning quick left hook knocked Teron to the canvas for the second time. This time he did not get up.
Pier Olivier Coté pleased his hometown crowd with a second round knockout win at 0:33 seconds of round number two. He improves his record to 18 victories and 12 knockouts. But most importantly, “Apou” remains one of Canada’s most exciting boxers to watch.
Steve Molitor versus Sebastien Gauthier
In a ten round super bantamweight war, former two time IBF super bantamweight champion Steve “The Canadian Kid” Molitor (33-2-0, 12) of Mississauga, Ontario, did battle with the ferocious former WBO Intercontinental champion Sebastien Gauthier (21-2-0, 13 KO) of Saint-Jerome, Quebec. On this night, Gauthier knew he would face the biggest challenge of his career. Indeed, Molitor owns victories over Scotty Olsen, Michael Hunter, Takalani Ndlovu (twice), Fahsan 3K Battery and Jason Booth, to name a few.
Molitor-Gauthier was, without a doubt, the most exciting fight of the evening. Every boxing fan inside the building went wild from start to finish. Right at the opening bell, Gauthier jumped on Molitor like a wolverine. Molitor sustained a nasty gash over his left eye caused by an accidental clash of heads early in the fight.
In the second round, “The Canadian Kid” adjusted to Gauthier’s fury by landing a rapid and precise right and left at close range. Gauthier, however, got back to being the aggressor and unleashed bad intentioned combinations on Molitor.
In the third round, Gauthier was relentless as he pressured the former two-time champion on the ropes, hitting him with three big right hands. Molitor seemed surprised by Gauthier’s assaults. Near the end of the round, Molitor fired two swift combos on his opponent. Molitor followed up with precise, short left hands, opening up a cut over Gauthier’s right eye, as the men traded heavy blows in the center of the ring.
In the middle rounds, both fighters had blood on their face. Molitor’s white trunks are red all over. This was truly a war. Gauthier was constantly attacking and hurting his foe with left and right hooks on the inside. At the same time, “The Canadian Kid” demonstrated his counter punching ability. Most of the time, Molitor was forced to fight with his back on the ropes.
In the later rounds, Molitor caught Gauthier with a brutal left. Gauthier took it well, answering with violent overhand rights to the side of Molitor’s head, momentarily shaking the legs of the former champ. “The Canadian Kid” worked the jab and straight left to keep away from his adversary. Seconds away from the end of the ninth round, Gauthier landed a sizzling left hook, buckling Molitor’s knees again.
In the tenth and final round, Molitor caught a visibly tired Gauthier with three hard straight left hands buckling Gauthier. Nevertheless, Gauthier gathered every ounce of his remaining energy forcing Molitor to a neutral corner with a solid right hand. The men exchanged punches to close out the fight.
Before the decision could be heard, a seemingly disappointed Molitor went back to his corner, while Gauthier has his arms up in anticipation of victory. Judges Nicolas Esnault gave a score of 96-94 for Molitor, Jean Gauthier 96-94 for Gauthier and Claude Paquette 96-94 for Molitor. Thus, Steve Molitor walked away with a close, split decision victory. This was a very tough fight that could have gone either way!
Conférence de Sébastien Gauthier suite à son revers contre Steve Molitor from Slugger.Tv on Vimeo.
Sebastien Demers versus Allan Green
In a ten round light heavyweight bout, former middleweight challenger, Sebastien “Double Trouble’’ Demers (31-4-0, 11 KO) of Saint Hyacinthe,
Quebec, took on former super middleweight title challenger Allan Green (30-3-0, 21) of Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. After two consecutive knockout defeats, Demers was looking to redeem himself with a good showing. Nicknamed “Ghost Dog,” Green finds himself in the same situation with a one-sided defeat at the hands of Andre Ward and another by knockout Glen Johnson. Both of Green’s recent losses came in the Showtime Super Six Tournament.
Neglected by boxing experts, Demers entered the ring with his new team, including trainer Howard Grant and former WBO middleweight champion Otis Grant. This change would be an important factor in this fight. Green came in Quebec City over the weight limit, as the fight was supposed to take place in the super middleweight division.
Nevertheless, Demers was ready for this fight. “Double Trouble” would even shake his opponent, landing powerful right hooks on the inside of Green’s defence in the seventh. In the eighth, Demers also had some success, hurting “Ghost Dog.” On the other hand, Green landed vicious combinations of right and left hooks, stunning Demers on some occasions early and near the end of the fight, but a valiant Demers refused to go down.
Many boxing fans accused Demers of a weak chin. But on this night, he proved to everyone that he can take punishment and dish out some in return. It was a very courageous effort Demers, but not enough to secure a win. Judge Jean Gauthier gave a score of 100-90, Claude Paquette of 98-92 and Jack Woodburn of 97-93, all in favour of Green.
Kevin Bizier versus Christian Bladt
In the light middleweight division, Hometown favourite Kevin Bizier (15-0-0, 11 KO) of Saint-Emile, Quebec, faced former European welterweight champion, Christian Bladt (38-12-2, 12 KO) of Hinnerup, Denmark. Bladt came into the fight with 37 more pro-appearances than Bizier, including victories over Willy Wise and Alessandro Duran.
Under the guidance of trainer Marc Ramsay, Bizier demonstrated accuracy and power with his lethal left hook. Stimulated by the crowd support, Bizier forced Bladt to go the defensive. Early in the third and final round, Bizier destroyed the Danish fighter with his trademark left hook right on the button, leaving Bladt on the canvas for the count. With the victory, Bizier remains undefeated and earns another impressive knockout win – his sixth in a row – taking his record to sixteen victories, with zero defeats.
Schiller Hyppolite versus Dale Golden
In the light heavyweight division, Schiller Hyppolite (1-0-0) of Montreal, Quebec, took on Dale Golden (1-0-0, 1 KO) of St-Nicolas, Quebec, in a four rounder. Both entered the contest as undefeated fighters, with bad intentions.
Hyppolite didn’t waste any time, destroying Golden in the first round. A series of left hooks took down Golden for a first time. Another lethal left dropped him on the canvas for good. Schiller Hyppolite took the honours via TKO victory at 2:28 seconds of the first round.
Rances Barthelemy versus Alejandro Barrera
In the lightweight division, Rance Barthelemy (13-0-0, 10 KO) a native of Arroyo Naranjo, Cuba, now fighting from Miami, Florida, did battle with Alejandro Barrera (21-9-0, 14 KO) Mexico City, Mexico.
The Cuban’s sensational power could be felt in the building that night. Indeed, midway through round number one, Berthelemy dropped Barrera with a huge left. The Mexican received an eight count by referee Alain Villeneuve and continued to go forward on the Cuban pugilist. It came with a price, as Berthelemy knocked down Barrera for a second time, just as the bell sounded to end the round.
Berthelemy showed his power and quickness to the people of Quebec City by dropping Barrera with right, left and right hook combination. This time, the veteran Mexican would not get up and Berthelemy was declared the winner by knockout early in the second round. The power punching Cuban remains undefeated, improving his record to fourteen victories, no defeats, and eleven knockouts.
