Injured former super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute arrived back in Montreal on Tuesday and met the media on Wednesday to discuss the back injury that knocked him out of a Dec. 6 light heavyweight match with Roberto Bolonti at the Bell Centre.
Although the card (Integrated Sports PPV) will go on with former light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal moving into the main event to face Bolonti, Bute is on ice with the injury.
Bute was in his first training camp with new trainer Freddie Roach and had been with him in Manny Pacquiao’s camp in the Philippines. Bute injured himself in the seventh round of a sparring session in Macau, where Pacquiao beat Chris Algieri with ease Saturday. Bute traveled to Macau to be with Roach.
Bute said he finished the 12-round sparring session but could not do any more and withdrew from the fight. He said he was still waiting for an official diagnosis from his doctor in Montreal.
One of the reasons for the news conference was to shoot down rumors that swirled that he was going to retire and make another trainer change.
“I heard a lot of rumors in the last couple of days, but I can assure you that I’m not retiring and Freddie Roach is still my coach,” said Bute, adding that he loved training with Roach and Pacquiao.
Now, he said it’s all about getting his back right before he fights again next year.
“I’m not a doctor, but it hurts really bad,” Bute said. “I don’t know what it really is at this point. But it still hurts. I can walk, I can enter my car, but I’m not healthy enough to fight. I won’t jeopardize my health. I’m really sad, but I have nothing to hide.”
The 34-year-old Bute (31-2, 24 KOs) was looking to rebound from a lopsided loss to Pascal in January in what was the biggest all-Montreal fight in history.
Bute has fought only twice since Carl Froch blitzed him in five rounds to take his super middleweight belt in May 2012 in Froch’s hometown of Nottingham, England.
Bute returned in November 2012 and struggled to a 12-round decision against Denis Grachev and then didn’t fight again until this past January against Pascal, a fight delayed because of Bute’s hand injury and subsequent surgery.