Bute vs Froch: Carl Froch Says Fight Is Close for May

Last night on Ringside, super middleweight contender Carl Froch announced he could be close to securing a possible shot at IBF champion Lucian Bute.

Bute was the most notable man to not take part in the Super Six World Boxing Classic, for any number of reasons, but does hold the IBF title, to which Froch was recently named mandatory challenger.

As we've been reporting here at Bad Left Hook for several weeks, Froch has been linked with a number of opponents, some real and others not so much. There was Nathan Cleverly (never really an option), plus Librado Andrade or Noe Gonzalez, but Bute was the favourite among most. But while on boxing magazine show Ringside, Froch announced he has started training back in Nottingham and was confident of landing fight with Bute.

"I'm mandatory challenger now so there's no reason why the fight can't happen. He's recently tweeted that he's happy to come to England so we're going to try and make that happen. The two-fight deal is a possible scenario, but we're trying to get a date in May and it will be one of the Saturdays.

"To fight in the UK now would be a privilege, I've had so many fights away from home. When you've got the crowd behind you it's great, it gives you a lift. It would be fantastic to have it in Nottingham - there are loads of great venues in the UK but it would be great to come back to Nottingham.

"I think it will happen, I'm definitely up for the fight. Bute has gone out there publicly saying that he wants to fight. I realise that he's the champion so it's down to what he wants in terms of monetary value, so commercially as long as it makes sense to him, the fight will happen in May in the UK. Amir Khan is fighting on the 19th so I think it will either be on the 12th or the 26th."

Although not a confirmation of the fight, it could be classed as the next nearest thing. Froch has come out live on air in front of plenty of viewers and expressed his desire to fight Bute as well as the probability of it before.

Granted we've heard it before but let's hope they can get it on. Froch to win, he also mentioned in his interview that he doesn't rate Bute at all and expected to win. I agree with him and look forward to Froch fighting more big names, including a possible rematch with Kessler.