BUTE VS, ALVAREZ Lucian Bute vs. Eleider Alvarez To air live worldwide on PPV Feb. 24 at Videotron Centre of Quebec City
MONTREAL (February 8, 2017) – Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) and Gestev have jointly announced that the February 24th BUTE VS. ALVAREZ mega-showdown, as Lucian Bute challenges World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver light heavyweight champion Eleider “Storm” Alvarez in the 12-round main event, will air live worldwide on pay per view from Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada.
In addition to Alvarez defending his WBC Silver title against former International Federation Boxing (IBF) super middleweight champion Bute, their fight will also be the final WBC eliminator to determine the mandatory challenger for the winner’s GYM stablemate, reigning WBC and lineal light heavyweight champion Adonis “Superman” Stevenson (28-1-0, 23 KOs).
Integrated Sports Media will distribute “BUTE VS. ALVAREZ” live in the United States, starting at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, on cable, satellite and internet pay-per-view via iN Demand, Vubiquity, DIRECTV, DISH and the FITE app for a suggested retail price of only $29.95.
In Canada, “BUTE VS. ALVAREZ” will be available to watch, in English or French, on Canal Indigo, Shaw TV and Bell TV; English-only on Rodgers PPV, as well as in many of the top Canadian sports bars. “BUTE VS. ALVAREZ” will also air around the world on an international satellite feed.
“We are very happy to provide the opportunity for the fans in the United States and around the world to watch this great fight live from the beautiful Videotron Center in Quebec City,” GYM president Yvon Michel said. “This is an extremely significant fight in the highly talented light heavyweight division. The bout will also determine the next opponent for WBC champion Adonis Stevenson in a clash that will be one of the most important and the biggest fights in Canadian boxing history.”
Romania-born Bute (32-3-1, 25 KOs), who is a Canadian citizen living in Laval (Canada), held the IBF 168-pound division title for nearly five years (Oct. 19, 2007-May 26, 2012), when the wildly popular southpaw ranked among the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
Bute has a sterling 10-2-1 (8 KOs) record in world title fights and he has defeated six world champions: Dingaan Thobela, Sakio Bika, Alejandro Berrio, William Joppy, Brian Magee and Glen Johnson.
The WBC No. 7-ranked Bute will celebrate his 37th birthday four days after his fight with Alvarez. All three of his pro career losses have been to world champions: Jean Pascal, Carl Froch and James DeGale.
The 32-year-old Alvarez (21-0, 10 KOs), fighting out of Montreal, is a native of Colombia, where he was a decorated amateur, capturing a gold medalist at the prestigious 2007 Pan-American Games, in addition to being a 2008 Olympian in Beijing, China.
“Storm” moved to Montreal and turned pro in 2009. He went on to become North American Boxing Organization (NABO) and North American Boxing Association (NABA) light heavyweight champion. In 2014, he stopped previously undefeated Ryno Liebenberg (16-0) in the seventh round of their fight in Monte Carlo to capture the WBC Silver 175-pound division championship, which he has successfully defended twice, both by 12-round decision, against Isidro Ranoni Prieto (24-0-3) and former world title challenger Isaac Chilemba.
Now ranked No. 1 by the WBC and No. 4 by The Ring magazine, Alvarez’ most recent fight was last month, in which he won a 10-round unanimous decision over Norbert Dabrowski (19-5-1) in Montreal.
Additional PPV fights will soon be announced by GYM.
