PBC on NBCSN: Lucian Bute Takes Andrea Di Luisa Out in 4th

Forgive Lucian Bute. After a 19-month layoff, following a crushing defeat at the hands of rival Jean Pascal, the former super middleweight world champ needed to ease back into boxing. Nobody was about to argue with Bute for what was essentially a spirited televised sparring session.

Bute (32-2, 25 KOs) had zero trouble in dispatching Italian Andrea Di Luisa before thousands of adoring fans inside the Bell Centre in the Romanian’s adopted hometown of Montreal. Di Luisa was spunky from the start, but his gameplan of bothering Bute’s face with pesky jabs and scattered rights wasn’t enough to deter Lucian, let alone keep him away.

Bute gave away the first two rounds -- though he actually won them anyway -- as Di Luisa tried to get his offense going. To his credit, Di Luisa tried his tail off to make it interesting, but once Bute shook off the layers of ring rust, Di Luisa had no chance.

Related » PBC on NBCSN Round-by-Round Scoring

Bute began throwing his southpaw jab with regularity towards the end of the third and continued to increase his punch output in the following round. “Le Tombeur” increased the pressure, though it didn’t deter his opponent from throwing all sorts of punches.

Until, that is, Bute nailed him with a sizzling double left behind the jab, the second of which found a comfortable place that scrambled Di Luisa’s equilibrium. Once it connected, Di Luisa was badly rocked, his body jolted upright and he spun halfway to his right, crumbling onto his gloves and knees. Di Luisa was as good as out, but the native of Napoli climbed to his feet when referee Steve St. Germain’s count reached eight.

Bute, knowing the fight was essentially over, went to close. Di Luisa covered up and that was all he could do while the former long-time IBF 168-pound titlist pounded away at his head and body. Di Luisa (17-3, 13 KOs) couldn’t fend him off and his corner tossed in a red towel, hoping St. Germain would end it. He did, officially at 1:53 of the fourth, ending the meat of the PBC on NBCSN telecast.

“I’ve been saying all week that the champ is back,” an excited Bute said immediately following his conquest. “I tell you: I am back!”

In the opening bout of the televised portion of the Premier Boxing Champions card, Colombian-born Montreal native Eleider Alvarez survived some early struggles against Isidro Prieto to win a unanimous 12-round decision.

In the sixth, Prieto rocked Alvarez early with his overhand right and was aggressive throughout, which kept “Storm” out of sync. But once Alvarez found his rhythm behind his jab, he established a punishing body attack that gradually deteriorated Prieto’s stamina and, in essence, his gameplan. As the rounds worn on, Prieto’s tank worn down, allowing the local fighter to seize control at the midway point.

Prieto, who was born in Paraguay but lives and fights out of Argentina, never stopped trying to end the fight with his vaunted overhand right, but “El Guerrero” continuously telegraphed the punch, allowing Alvarez to time it, defend it and counter it.

Alvarez’ late surge allowed him to win a lopsided unanimous decision on all three scorecards, though the duel was much closer than the official scores indicated. Alvarez (18-0, 10 KOs) was awarded the victory with margins of 117-111 on all three tickets, though Sherdog.com scored it much closer. Prieto, for his efforts, fell to 24-1-3 with 20 KOs.