As an amateur, Bute won the bronze medal at the 1999 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Houston, Texas and the gold medal at the 2001 Francophone Games. Bute also represented Romania at the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Bangkok, Thailand as a middleweight, where he was defeated and eliminated from the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championship by the current middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin with a superb knockout at round 4. Before KO Golovkin, who won 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championship, was outpointing Bute with 13 points.