Lucian Bute kept his undefeated record intact with a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Glen Johnson in an International Boxing Federation super-middleweight title fight on Saturday. The 31-year-old Canadian-based Romanian Bute improved 30-0 and made the tenth defence of the title he won in 2007. “It was a great fight and a great performance for me,” said southpaw Bute, who saw his string of six consecutive KOs snapped.
“Glen Johnson is a great fighter. To beat him, you have to avoid the jab. I did that and I tried to out-jab him. I have to be able to beat guys like him.” Two of the three judges gave Bute all 12 rounds and he lost just one round on the other judge’s scorecard in front of a crowd of 15,306 at the Colisee arena. The 42-year-old Johnson, of Jamaica, fell to 51-16-2. He has lost five of his past nine fights.
Johnson (51-16-2) injured his right arm in the fight but continued to fight. He didn’t take the loss well. “I think I won the fight,” said Johnson. “I beat him with one hand. “It’s tough to win in your opponent’s hometown because as soon as he does one little thing, the crowd goes crazy instead of paying attention to what the punches are telling you.” On the undercard, Canadian super-bantamweight Steve Molitor outpointed Sebastien Gauthier in a 10-round split decision to improve to 34-2. In Hollywood, Florida, Panama’s Guillermo Jones scored a sixth round technical knockout of Mike Marrone to retain his World Boxing Association cruiserweight title on Saturday. Jones knocked Marrone down in the fifth and sixth rounds at the Hard Rock Live Arena. Jones improved to 38-3-2 with his 30th knockout, while Marrone fell to 20-4.
