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There has been a strange set of circumstances surrounding who was going to air this fight in the US on May 26th from Nottingham, England. The natural pick would be Showtime, since Lucian Bute is still under contract with Showtime for one more fight.
Yet, Showtime has pushed rather hard for Bute to fight either Andre Ward, the winner of the Super Six tournament, or Andre Dirrell, for some odd reason. Since Bute ended up picking Carl Froch, Showtime decided to pass on this fight in the hopes that they could get a fight between Andre Ward and Lucian Bute. HBO did not want to pick up the fight because the head of HBO's boxing operation, Ken Hershman, is the mastermind behind the Super Six.
The only other options left are Epix, ESPN, or independent PPV, with the smart money being on Epix. Well, it looks like the smart money is correct, and Epix will air the fight as reported by their twitter stream.
"Fight fans! Froch vs. Bute is coming to @EPIXsports Saturday, May 26th! #Boxing"
I have no idea if Epix is going to air this fight for free, like they did for the three heavyweight matchups, or if they are going to charge a small fee. I would assume that this would be the best matchup ever to air on Epix, but I also assume that they have to make money at some point. I also welcome this news with a bit of trepidation because Epix has frequently had issues with maintain a high quality stream. However, I'm glad that everyone will be able to see this fight, which will be the most significant fight in the super middleweight division since the Super Six final. Are you guys excited that Epix is going to carry this fight or disappointed?