Registered fishermen still waiting by the phone for BP
June 22, 2010
Helen LeBoeuf
June 24, 2010
For nearly 20 years, Butterbean has wowed crowds across the globe.
The “King of the 4 Rounders,” started as a brawling Tough Man Contest competitor, and has emerged into a now world-renowned professional fighter.
The former Super heavyweight champion spent time talking with SportsNet earlier this week ahead of his July 9 bout in Houma.
Among the topics covered are his storied career, upcoming Houma fight and MMA’s emergence in the fighting world.
SportsNet: Firstly, Mr. Esch, you’re …
Esch: Please, please. There’s no reason for the Mister. Just call me Butterbean; that’s good enough for me.
SN: Well, to that point, how did the nickname start? How did people get to know you as Butterbean?
BB: When I first started going at it 20 years ago in the Tough Man contests, I weighed 420. I needed to get down to 400 to be able to enter the contest. I had to do something pretty quick, so I went on a butterbean diet. I ate nothing but butterbeans and chicken. So the people at work started to call me Butterbean, because I had been eating them non-stop, so the name just stuck.”
SN: Without the nickname, would any of your recognition be possible, in your opinion?
BB: I’m forever grateful for that diet. That’s exactly it. Everyone needs something distinctive to make some headway in our sport. Butterbean did it for me.
SN: You’ve obviously been all over the globe in your career. Do you have a favorite moment you’d like to share?
BB: Probably when I knocked down Larry Holmes in the 10th round. He won the fight, but I scored the only knockdown the entire fight. He is a Hall of Fame boxer, so that was a big honor for me.
SN: Is there a guy along the way that you’d have liked to fight, but never got a chance to?
BB: I’d have loved to fight Mike Tyson, but it just never was able to happen. It’s a real shame, too, because that would have been an awesome fight that people would have wanted to see.
SN: Throughout your career, boxing purists always said you were a fighter who wasn’t capable of fighting more than four-round fights. What do you say to those critics?
BB: I tell them just what I told you – I went 10 rounds with Larry Holmes. The training for both is the same. I’ve fought a lot of four-round fights, and as you know, that’s such a fast pace. You just can’t fight that pace and fight 10 rounds. There’s no way. Nobody has the stamina to do that. That’s what makes the shorter fights more exciting to watch. People don’t care if a fight goes 10 or 12 rounds. People want to watch an exciting fight.
Four-round fights are absolutely, by-far, more exciting fights. That’s why MMA is so much more exciting than boxing in my view, because it’s a shorter fight. It’s longer rounds, but there aren’t as many.
SN: About MMA – that’s something you’ve also played your hand in recently. How has that gone?
BB: I enjoy the MMA. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s exciting. The difference in the boxing and the MMA is the guys always come to fight. MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world. And it is for a reason. It’s awesome.
SN: Now that you’re a veteran in this game, you’ve been able to see your children step into the ring, as well. What’s that been like, and how are Brandon and Caleb progressing?
BB: Both of them are doing real well. They are learning with every fight. That’s just how it works in the fight game. You’ve got to learn by fighting. You can’t just train and not fight. A lot of the technique is learned in the actual fight, because the guy might stand up in a different stance or height than you’d expect in training. They are doing real well. It’s exciting to watch them fight. They are both really exciting fighters to watch, so I’m proud of them.
SN: You’re heading to Houma in early July. What should fans expect from the card that night?
BB: This should be a lot of fun; honestly, it’s not just me, the whole card is going to be good. Both of my sons are fighting. It’s going to be a very exciting card. You definitely don’t want to miss it.
SN: You’re competing against a fighter you fought in 2002. Your thoughts on Darrin Carline?
BB: I don’t remember the fight that much. I remember people telling me about the guy, but I don’t remember the guy that much. I just remember I beat him. I fought him a long time ago, and he thinks he’s gotten a lot better, and he thinks I’ve not gotten better. He thinks he can take me now, and I’m glad he thinks that, but it ain’t going to happen. But you know how it is; he has to say that, that’s just how it works.
SN: So you’re predicting the same result this time around?
BB: Exactly the same result, yes.
Eric “Butterbean” Esch has developed a reputation as one of the most recognizable fighters in the world. The mammoth, 400-plus pound fighter will take his game to Houma in early July – a fight he said might be his last ever in America. * Photo courtesy of ERIC ESCH
