I bet Bute quits, says victor Froch; Boxing.

CARL Froch fears he may have ended Lucian Bute's career after delivering a "devastating beating" which crowned him a three-time world champion while crushing his opponent's unbeaten record.

The Englishman snatched Bute's IBF super-middleweight title with a superb fifth-round stoppage in Nottingham on Saturday night and is now contracted to travel to Canada, where Romanian Bute is based, to defend the belt in a rematch.

However, the 34-year-old believes Bute may never fight again, let alone step into the ring for second dose.

He said: "Personally I don't think Bute will want the rematch because as a fighter, I looked into his eyes and after round three I saw something drain from him. Something only a fighter can see.

"I don't think he's going to want to fight again, let alone fight me again. Honestly.

"He came here unbeaten and got absolutely, devastatingly beaten. That doesn't happen often to top-level fighters.

"That is a beating, the whupping of all whuppings. I've not seen it back yet. I'm not bragging. I don't want to hurt anybody, I'm not proud of hurting people but that's what I'm in the ring to do. If the boot was on the other foot, you know what would happen.

"That was some performance by me - and I think it was a career-ending performance. You never know. I don't know what he's made of, so we'll see."

Instead, Froch would prefer to avenge his two career defeats - against Mikkel Kessler in 2010 and Andre Ward in December last year. His over-riding ambition, however, is still to become a unified champion after previously holding the WBC title twice and now owning the IBF crown.

"I've still got that dream of unifying the world titles," said Froch, whose record reads 29-2 with 21 knockout wins.