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Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Without Showtime, Interbox
Still Wants To Present The Bute vs. Froch Fight On April 14
By Daniel Cloutier
MONTRÉAL -InterBox got the confirmation from Showtime that
they will not televise the fight between the Romanian
Montrealer Lucian Bute and the British Carl Froch, scheduled
for April 14th at Bell Centre in Montréal.
According several sources, Showtime has indicated to Jean
Bédard, InterBox promoter, that the only opponent for Bute
the American market actually is interested in, is the
Californian Andre Ward, the “Super Six” champion. Showtime
still has one Bute fight to televise to complete his three
fight deal.
“Lucian Bute wants to fight Ward, and we want to put him in
with Ward, but the WBC and WBA champion is not available,”
said Bédard. “He (Ward) has a serious hand injury. The two
fighters that Lucian wants absolutely to take on now, are
Ward and Carl Froch. Only Froch is available at this point.
Without Showtime in the picture, without US TV in the
picture, the revenues of the show will obviously be reduced.
However, we are planning to present the fight Bute vs. Froch
April 14th at Bell Centre. We will discuss with Froch’s
promoter in the next days to see if there a possibility to
bring Froch to Montréal (with a reduce payday obviously). We
are still confident.”
When a journalist asked to Bédard if this situation has
complicated his relations with Showtime, Bédard said, “I
will not comment that.”
Another journalist asked to Bédard if HBO could become an
option. Bedard’s answer:, “I cannot make any comment on
that, or discuss of our contract situation with Showtime.”
Is the Bute vs. Froch fight possible in these circumstances?
InterBox could get international TV (Europe channels) and
the Canadian and Québec pay-per-view, but obviously, the two
fighters would be obliged to accept largely reduced purses.
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