With Kelly Pavlik Gone, Is Glen Johnson Next for Lucian Bute?

IBF Super Middleweight (168 lbs) world champion Lucian Bute (29-0, 24 KOs) needs an opponent for his planned November 5th title defense in the wake of Kelly Pavlik's falling out with Showtime and promoter Top Rank.

Now there's a search for a respectable opponent. Former world champion Glen Johnson (51-15-2, 35 KOs) has recently been tapped to potentially fill the shoes Pavlik kicked off according to Boxing Insider.

Johnson's manager had this to say when asked about the possibility:

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“Assuming now that Pavlik is out of that, I think Glen is very high up on the list. We’re pretty good friends with Interbox and their team; I believe Ken Hershman and Showtime would be on board. Glen has performed on their network on numerous occasions quite admirably. All in all, I’d say we’re very high on the list."

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Johnson has won the IBF light heavyweight (175 lbs) world title and battled for championships from middleweight (160 lbs) to light heavyweight (175 lbs) against a Who's Who of opposition including Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson, Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver.

Johnson recently shocked the world by moving back down to the 168 lb division to conquer and TKO heavy contender Allan Green (29-3, 20 KOs) in the Round 8 and gave Carl Froch (28-1, 20 KOs) the fight of his life in a close majority-decision loss.

When Bute's trainer, Stephane Larouche, was spoken to last month about who Bute would face should  Pavlik not come through, he answered with the following:

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“I know that Kessler does not want to fight Lucian. I think we’re going to have to look maybe at Glen Johnson. He’s a great friend of Lucian’s; they’ve been training together the last 2 years. But I think he is by far the best available guy if Pavlik is not there.”

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If Bute lands a fight with Johnson, it will be the toughest competition he's faced thus far. Though 42 years old, Johnson is consistently in shape and ready in season and out.

If his performance against Green and Froch prove anything, it's that you can never count the old Jamaican out. He might surprise you.