Paul Butler: "I am confident and it's a fight I am going into with absolutely zero pressure on me."
By Matthew Elliott
In just over a week's time, Paul Butler faces the biggest fight of his twelve-year professional career. On December 13th Butler travels to Japan to face one of the most feared men in boxing, Naoya Inoue, with the winner set to become the undisputed bantamweight champion of the world.
Wind the clock back twelve months though and Butler could not have believed he would now be in this position. It was in Dubai last December that he was due to face the then-WBO belt holder John Riel Casimero for a chance to become a two-time world champion. Then, on the day of the weigh-in, Casimero withdrew from the fight, citing a bout of viral gastritis although rumours persisted about his difficulties in making the 118lb weight limit. At short notice, Joseph Agbeko was put forward as a replacement but Butler was not prepared to step into the ring without assurances that the belt would remain on the line. Reflecting on the experience, he admits it was a difficult week.
"It was horrible that week. It was a horrible twenty-four hours because I had him pulling out and we knew Agbeko was in Dubai and we were thinking, what is he doing here? I knew Probellum had reached out to him and said to come over just in case, but we were not prepared for him. I knew deep down that they wouldn't strip Casimero, so it was one of them. Do I fight and potentially pick up an injury; anything can happen in boxing, we have seen it loads of times, looking past one man to get to the other and things happen. I was getting a little bit of pressure about boxing on that bill against Agbeko, I'm a fighter and I want to fight but I am thinking, what am I going to gain from it, a few quid? And it probably wasn't worth it after looking back on what has happened since."
Butler returned home and was delighted when a month later the WBO approved a request to reschedule the fight for April of this year in Liverpool. Then, in a case of déjà vu, Casimero was again ruled out after the British Boxing Board of Control was notified that he had been using saunas in a desperate attempt to make weight. After the events of Dubai, this came as less of a surprise to Butler.
"Do you know what, with Casimero nothing surprised me fight week, so I was half prepared this time around. Everyone was telling me he wouldn't make weight but for me, being the boxer, I was thinking he will, and then he goes on Facebook live and he and his trainer are talking about him getting in the sauna with a full sweat suit on and he's shadow boxing in there. He has boxed over here before, so he should know the rules and he certainly knew them in Dubai when he didn't get on the scales, so I think that one came back to bite him."
It had also emerged in the run-up to the fight that there was already a replacement opponent waiting in the wings. As it transpired, it was that man, Jonas Sultan, that Butler ended up facing despite having had limited preparation time.
"We had just over forty-eight hours to come up with a game plan. Sultan had been training for us, but we hadn't been training for him. We knew eight weeks before the fight that he was the reserve, which is unheard of in a world title contest. They put out to the press that he was the reserve, which was very strange, but we cracked on and prepared for Casimero. When he was withdrawn, we produced a great plan for Sultan at very short notice."
Butler put on what he describes as the best performance of his career that night, securing a wide points victory. The win saw him become the WBO interim world bantamweight champion, but he was always convinced that the sanctioning body would upgrade him to full champion status in the weeks that followed.
"Yes, I was very confident otherwise I wouldn't have boxed Sultan, I would have sat and waited for Casimero again. I felt on the night, that whilst it was only officially an interim title, it felt like I had won a world title and I think everyone in the crowd and all my family, we all knew, and the team knew that I was going to be elevated to full champion."
That confirmation came less than two weeks later, as the WBO confirmed their decision to formally strip Casimero and Butler was now a two-time world champion. Having won the IBF title back in 2014 with a victory over Stuart Hall, Butler had quickly relinquished the belt and moved back down to super-flyweight. He had waited eight years, but he was back at the top.
Attention turned almost immediately to an undisputed clash with Inoue after the Japanese fighter destroyed Nonito Donaire within two rounds of their rematch from 2019. Inoue, nicknamed 'The Monster' due to his ferocious punching power, called for a fight with Butler stating he wanted to become undisputed before stepping up in weight. Butler admits his team had already reached out to Inoue's representatives in a bid to make the fight happen.
"Before he even boxed Donaire, we reached out and told them that if he was victorious, we wanted the fight and they were happy with that. There were talks about me taking a voluntary defence in Liverpool in October, but Inoue's team asked us not to just in case of a hand injury or a cut or anything that could happen. We chose not to, and in the end, we stuck to their wishes, and they asked for December. So, we've waited for this fight because I know he plans to move up next year."
The fight was officially announced in October, and this led to some widespread criticism as people questioned the point of the fight and immediately dismissed Butler's chances. This is something that frustrates Butler but doesn't surprise him.
"I think that is the case with anything in life now, it's a mad world we live in at the moment. No one praises anybody anymore. I think if a lad from a Sunday league team signed for Liverpool, no one would be made up for him, people would just say he won't get a game and it's sad that people can't say fair do's to the kid, he's signed a contract against the most feared man in boxing and will go out there and have a go but you don't get that anymore."
Butler is under no illusions as to the size of the task ahead of him against an opponent who has an 87% knockout rate, with only three of his twenty-three fights going the distance. His demolition of Donaire, a multiple world champion, has only further highlighted the threat he poses.
"Everyone knows who he is, everyone knows what he is capable of and he's arguably the biggest puncher out there along with Deontay Wilder. You only need to look at his resume and see who he's boxed and the weights he's come up and look what he is still doing; he is still knocking people spark out at bantamweight, the same he was doing at flyweight."
Despite his obvious qualities, I asked Butler whether he had seen any weaknesses that he felt he could exploit and give him confidence going into the fight.
"Yes, have a look at the Donaire fight. In the first fight, he shows a lot of vulnerabilities, and I didn't see them until you sit down and watch in detail, rather than as a fan. I love Inoue I think he's great. He's my type of fighter, he is up on his toes and always looking for that shot but when you do sit down and watch him carefully you think yeah, he keeps getting caught with that shot or he doesn't do this or doesn't do that, or that hand always comes down when he's throwing that punch. I've watched a lot of his sparring as well. So, I'm confident and it's a fight I am going into with absolutely zero pressure on me. There was pressure on me against Sultan because if I got beat in that fight where did I go? I haven't got two or three years to rebuild and try and move up the rankings again. He is expected to win. If you believe what everyone online is saying it'll be over in a minute or the first round. Well, good luck to him. If he does that then fair enough, he is a very good fighter, but I am going in there with a game plan and hopefully, it comes off."
Whatever the outcome for Butler in Japan, he acknowledges that he can look back on his achievements to date with a huge sense of pride and admits that this fight, win or lose, is a huge moment and a mark of how far he has come.
"This is definitely the pinnacle of my career, if you had asked me when I first started boxing, would you have been happy with a world title, then yes, I would have been. Would you have been happy with two world titles, yes, I'd have been delighted with two. When I won the first all I wanted to do was try and win another and unify a division and I never had the chance to do that. Now I am boxing for all the marbles, which is a very rare thing these days due to all of the politics in boxing and with one promoter not willing to work with another, so yes I am creating history win, lose or draw and when the time comes to retire, I can do so a happy man."
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