QUEBEC CITY, Que. - Undefeated super-middleweight Lucian Bute erased all doubts Saturday night by knocking out the usually iron-jawed Librado Andrade at 2:57 of the fourth round, retaining his IBF world championship.
Referee Benjy Esteves counted the full ten after Bute landed a devastating left uppercut to the midsection of Andrade, who crumpled down into the corner.
Bute (25-0, 20 KOs) was making the fourth defence of his IBF crown and his second against Andrade, who pushed the charismatic left-hander to the limit in their initial matchup 13 months ago, knocking down the exhausted champion with just seconds left. The bout was marred with controversy as the Andrade camp felt their fighter had done enough for the victory.
Andrade (28-3, 21 KOs), who lives in La Habra, Calif., and trains in Montreal under Howard Grant, won the right for a rematch with a win in an elimination fight against Vitaly Tyspko in April.
Bute dominated the first fight for the first eleven-and-a-half rounds and Saturday was no different as he pounded out his stiff jab and scored crisp combinations.
The Romanian-born fighter scored a knockdown early in the fourth round, spinning off the ropes and landing a quick left counter, causing Andrade to fall forward onto all fours.
Andrade managed to beat the count but was on wobbly legs for the remainder of the round until Bute finished things with the explosive body shot that sent the capacity crowd of 16,473 screaming spectators to their feet.
In the co-feature, undefeated Joan Guzman (29-0, 17 KOs) of the Dominican Republic and Ali Funeka (30-2-3, 25 KOs) of South Africa fought to a spirited majority draw for the vacant IBF world lightweight title. Both Canadian judges, Benoit Roussel and Alan Davis, scored the fight even at 114-114 while American Joseph Pasquale gave the nod to Funeka by a 116-112 count.
Undercard action included hometown fighter Pier-Olivier Cote (9-0) capturing the vacant super-featherweight title by dominating an over-matched Jason Hayward by scores of 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91.
Other winners on the night included Quebec City native welterweight Kevin Bizier (7-0), middleweight Craig McEwan (17-0), and welterweight Keith Thurman (12-0).