The long and the short of it ... that’s definitely the best and probably the only way to describe this contest, or lack thereof.

A natural middleweight, Lucien Bute, is without a doubt one of the brightest young stars on the Canadian boxing scene and may just be the most talented youngster in the country. On the contrary, Dingaan Thobela is an aging, former world champion who started his career as a lightweight and now, thanks to an ever-increasing spare tire around his mid-section and an apparent lust for punishment, finds himself competing some 30 lbs. north of his natural weight and thereby fighting much bigger men. In fact, during the referee’s final instructions, Bute towered over his diminutive opponent in an almost comical fashion, serving to foreshadow what turned out to be a very one-sided contest.

From the opening bell it was all Bute as he immediately attacked his opponent with that punctuated, highly accurate and explosive style that has become the hallmark of his young career. “He’s all business when he’s in the ring and doesn’t mess around,” says Abe Pervin, one of Bute’s trainers. “And if the opportunity presents itself he will take his opponent out without hesitation.” Thobela, on the other hand, looked overwhelmed from the outset, had no answer for such a fearsome assault, and had obviously bitten off more than he could chew.

And with such a huge disparity in reach Thobela just couldn’t get close enough to land anything significant without finding himself on the business end of Bute’s long range bombs. One such bomb found its mark less than half a minute into the fight and although not landing completely flush still stung the South African, putting him quickly and permanently on the defensive. From ringside it was obvious that Thobela was hurt from that early shot as his eyes went wide like saucers, a sure sign that a bell has been rung – and from that point on it was really just a matter of time.

Bute, the local favourite, continued to pile up the points by punishing his opponent throughout rounds 2 and 3, and on one occasion, even buckled Thobela’s knees with his patented left hook to the body. Delivered from a southpaw stance this punch is not exactly the same as the famed Mexican left hook that has become such a popular show-stopper in recent months (Gatti vs. Doran and somewhat questionably Delahoya vs. Hopkins). And while both punches share the same target area Bute’s version is thrown from his back, or power hand, and therefore has to travel further to find the mark. Consequently this particular punch must be delivered with good speed and impeccable timing, and fortunately for Lucien Bute, he has both, along with tremendous power of course. “It’s been his most effective weapon to date,” explains chief second Stefane Larouche. “And it’s sent a lot of opponents home early.”

Now in the case of a rock like Thobela the punch didn’t actually send him to the shower, but even if it didn’t stop him, it still hurt him and like most fighters caused him to lower his right hand just a little bit in an attempt to protect his rattled rib cage. Consequently, this adjustment opened up Thobela’s head and Bute immediately, and predictably, took advantage by zeroing in on the coconut as well. This little game of upstairs, downstairs, continued until the 4th round when Thobela basically quit on his feet after taking a series of hard punches to the head. Dazed, confused, and definitely in the danger zone, Thobela reluctantly signaled the ref that he’d had enough and the fight was subsequently stopped on a TKO. A disappointing, yet fitting end to this contest, as Thobela had no chance to win and was on the verge of taking a lot of unnecessary punishment.

Observation

As short as this contest was, it could have been over even sooner had Thobela not used all of his ring savvy to get himself out of trouble during several heavy exchanges, and the formula was quite simple. Bute would routinely strafe the South African with a series of hard punches, driving him back towards the ropes and then, sensing that he may have hurt his opponent, the youngster would exuberantly leap in for the kill. Thobela, in defence would duck or slip and simultaneously move toward Bute, effectively colliding with his younger foe, smothering his punches and finally tying him up. The ref would then dutifully separate the two and just like that, Thobela would have bought himself a little more time. Now while such tactics aren’t particularly entertaining they are nevertheless effective if your strategy is simply to survive. As for Bute, he will obviously learn from this experience as he reviews the tape with his coaches and will work on better maintaining punching distance in the future and not leaping in too quickly or predictably. And it’s better that he learns it sooner rather than later because one day a cagey opponent with a good chin may successfully feign injury, lure Bute into a reckless attack and tag him on the way in.

Post Fight

During the post fight press conference a relaxed and confident Bute, speaking through a translator, felt that he was definitely ready for a major world title shot and a chance to test his mettle against the world’s best fighters. His trainers were a little more cautious, however, but still very high on this kid and his future in the sport – look for Bute to get a shot at a minor world championship belt in the near future.

Following Bute’s triumphant exit a somewhat dejected but ever realistic Dinghan Thobela entered the room. “I just couldn’t deal with his power,” he admitted. “I felt it in the 1st round and knew it was just too much.” When asked about Bute’s future Thobela was frank, “He has a lot of talent and if managed properly, he can go far.” Unfortunately his own future in the sport is no longer as bright, as South Africa’s favourite son somewhat painfully admitted that this would be his last professional fight. In a sport where retirements are often very fleeting indeed, I hope he meant it – he’s had a long and highly decorated career and for the sake of his own health, should probably just walk away.