| Butterbean Discusses The Fight Game |
 |
| Written by Paul Fladten | |||
| Friday, 02 October 2009 13:30 | |||
|
WCS: Why should people come to the Brew City Brawl this weekend?
Butterbean: If you want to see some good boxing matches and if you eventually want to see some more fights coming back to this area, come support the promoters. They’re doing a great job and they got a great venue at the US Cellular Arena.
They’ve put everything they can into making this a successful show. I think they’re crazy, but they started the tickets at ten bucks. The economy is slow and they want everyone to be able to enjoy it.
WCS: Why will this be your last boxing match?
Butterbean: I’ve fought so many fights, this is like my 90th professional boxing match. I’ve fought almost 100 toughman-style fights. Boxing has started to get boring. I took some time off from it, but hopefully this one will be fun for me.
Boxing has become a little boring for me. I’ve done it for so long, it’s almost like Brett Favre, you just get tired of it, then you miss it a little bit, and come back. Especially after you fight MMA, there is so many different aspects of what could happen in MMA. Boxing there is only a few. I’m not downing boxing, or saying that MMA is going to take over boxing. There is room for both sports.
WCS: Is there room for both sports?
Butterbean: Yeah. Take Fedor and put him against a top boxer in a boxing match, Fedor’s in trouble. Take any top boxer and put him in MMA match, they’re in trouble. They are different sports altogether.
WCS: Should cards contain both boxing and MMA together?
Butterbean: No. They have two different fans. You have your boxing people and your MMA people. I can enjoy both, but you have very few people like me who do enjoy both. It would be like watching a baseball game and a basketball game at the same time.
People think because it’s a fight game, people think it’s the same. Its just like basketball and baseball, two completely different sports. One is not going to take over the other, it’s not going to happen.
WCS: Why Milwaukee?
Butterbean: Well, I haven’t fought here in a while and Harry (Funmaker) has been wanting a rematch for a while. Harry’s a really good guy. Everyone thinks I won’t fight somebody I don’t like, it’s not true. I just won’t somebody I dislike because they make money on the card also. If you’re smart you can put that together why.
Money out of your pocket is going to hurt more than a broken nose. I fought here about ten years ago, I enjoyed it. Milwaukee fans are true boxing style fight fans. They enjoy it. No better place to come and hang it up.
WCS: How about fighting on the same card as Caleb?
Butterbean: My son Caleb is going to make his debut boxing match here. He’s fought MMA also, but he’s going to make his debut boxing. No better place than here. True boxing fight town. It’s a great experience to fight with Caleb. You couldn’t ask for more than I’ve gotten out of all three sports.
WCS: Future MMA plans?
Butterbean: I’m still going to go fight some MMA cards. Me and Tank Abbot are coming up in December. But right now I’m focused on boxing. This is the last boxing show, it’s the one to see. People can come and see Butterbean box one last time. There is a chance to see me fight MMA, but after Saturday you can’t say I get to go see him box.
WCS: Favorite memory from each sport?
Butterbean: Even though I lost the fight, I went ten rounds with Larry Holmes and dropped him in the tenth round. For boxing that’s a pretty fond memory. Submitting a brazillian purple belt on the very last Pride card, being on the last Pride card ever was a big thing.
I was on the first Pride card ever in the USA, and the very last Pride card in Japan. When I submitted Zulu it was a pretty big deal. People never expected it.
WCS: What else is in the future for Butterbean?
Butterbean: Just hold on to your pants and find out. We’ve got a lot of things going on, including a reality tv show that has been talking to me pretty heavy. It’s getting pretty hot, you may get to watch Butterbean behind the scenes.
WCS: One word to describe your boxing career.
Butterbean: Fun. A whole lot of fun.
Set as favorite
Email This
Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
|||
| Last Updated on Friday, 02 October 2009 13:59 |
On Saturday night Eric “Butterbean” Esch will wrap up his boxing career in the city of Milwaukee at the US Cellular Arena; in an interview with Wisconsin Combat Sports, “The King of The Four Rounders” discussed his career, his future, and the differences between boxing and MMA.
Subscribe to this comment's feed