In a battle of two top ranked Quebec boxers, Eleider Alvarez scored a big 5th round knockout over former world champion Lucian Bute (32-4-1) on Friday night at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City.
Bute seemed to be getting the better of things, with good movement jab a defense but Alvarez turned things around on a dime with two crushing right hands to put Bute down and out. The first right stood the former champ straight up and the second crashing down to the canvas, where try as he might, he just couldn’t get to his feet. Alvarez stays undefeated and moves to 22-0 with the WBC light-heavyweight title eliminator win and is in line to face-off in another all Quebec match-up versus world champion Adonis Stevenson.
After two very close opening rounds Bute seemed to be gaining the upper hand in rounds three and four, able to frustrate the Colombian born Alzarez and not letting him get off, that all quickly changed though as Bute who now has just two wins in his last seven was stopped for the second time in his career. Now 36, retirement seems to be on the horizon for the former champion.
The win goes down as the second versus Bute for Montreal trainer Marc Ramsey who was also at helm when former world champion Jean Pascal scored a points victory in 2014.
