But is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Jean Pascal in January and the former super middleweight world champion is focused on regaining his title. Bute began his career 30-0 with 24 KOs before getting knocked out in the fifth round by Carl Froch in May 2002. He bounced back with a win over Denis Grachev several months later but then dropped the verdict to Froch. A terrific fighter who has scored huge wins over foes like Jean-Paul Mendy, Glen Johnson, Sakio Bika, Librado Andrade and William Joppy, the Romanian-born Bute hopes a win over his next foe will bring back into the conversation with the rest of the 168-pound elite.
Di Luisa is a relative unknown to boxing fans. He has fought exclusively in his native country thus far and has taken on a host of decent European opponents. Di Luisa (17-2) has good power as he’s scored 13 knockouts in his career, but his two losses both came via stoppage. He has won four in a row coming in, but three of those win came via decision.
In the co-featured bout of the evening, unbeaten light heavyweights Eleider Alvarez and Isidro Ranoni Prieto will collide in a 12-rounder. Alvarez (17-0, 10 KOs) represented his native Colombia in the 2008 Olympics and has thus far looked stellar in the pros. Prieto (24-0-3) has crushing power; he’s taken out 20 opponents already in his pro campaign.