Houston – On Saturday, March 1, 2008, in St. Louis, Missouri, Raphael Butler became the youngest heavyweight in the world to amass 30 wins. At just 24-years of age and 2 months, Raphael Butler becomes only the sixth heavyweight in the world under the age of 30 to amass 30 wins. The other heavyweights with 30 wins who are under 30 years of age are Samuel Peters, age 27, Eddie Chambers, age 25, Albert Sosnowski, age 29, Malik Scott, age 27, and Chauncey Welliver, age 24 and 9 months..
Butler KO’d Kerry Biles in 45 seconds on Saturday showing that he is ready to reestablish himself as a heavyweight prospect and future contender. Although Butler had dropped Biles in each of his previous two fights, he failed to finish strongly and allowed Biles off the hook and an opportunity to finish the fight. Re-dedicating himself this year to boxing and vowing not to lose in 2008, Butler made sure in his fight with Biles that he finished the job. He stopped Kerry Biles quicker than Kerry Biles has ever been stopped in his career.
Butler has now won 5 fights in a row since his disappointing loss to Art Binkowski, a fight where he was ahead by 6 points on one card, 3 points on another, and 5 points on the other going to the last round when the referee stopped the fight at 2:23 despite the fact that Butler who had just been knocked down got up at the count of 4 and the referee gave the command to box at the count of 8. Because of the referee not providing Butler a full 10 seconds, failing to wash off his mouthpiece, and initially giving the command to box which indicated he thought that he was okay to continue at the count of 8 with just 37 seconds left in the fight, Butler’s camp filed a protest with the Minnesota commission which ruled only by majority decision to uphold the result. Butler has used that fight as motivation to re-dedicate himself. “I had the Binkowski fight won, I had knocked him down 3 times and was ahead by 5 points or more on 2 of the 3 scorecards going into the last round. The only way I could have lost the fight is if it had been stopped. The replay clearly shows I got up at the count of 4 and was ready to go at the count of 8. I was more exhausted than hurt. That served a good lesson to me that I need to be in better shape and not just try to knock everybody out. I have been working much harder in the gym and I think it shows. I am just 24 years old, an age at which many heavyweight fighters haven’t even started their careers and I already have 35 fights. Although I am disappointed in my 4 losses which are all on my shoulders, the experience of the 35 fights has taught me what I need to do and I am still at a young enough age where I feel I can make a lot of noise in the division. I am ready to fight other young prospects and would especially like to fight Eddie Chambers.”
Steve Munisteri, Raphael Butler’s manager, indicated that he has already informed Goosen-Tutor, the promoter for Eddie Chambers, that Butler is anxious to fight him and plans to knock him out if he gets the opportunity. If he doesn’t get the Chambers fight Munisteri says he has already been in contact with Star Boxing and has challenged Davon Vargas to a match on behalf of Raphael Butler. Munisteri who has handled such heavyweight notables as Ike Ibeabuchi, Obed Sullivan, David Bostice, Robert Davis, Travis Walker, Malcolm Tann, and Talmadge Griffis, among others, states “Raphael Butler has as much natural talent as any fighter I have ever dealt with. He is a huge puncher having knocked down all but 4 of his opponents in 35 fights. Even in the 4 fights he has lost he has knocked down his opponents a total of 4 times. His problem has been maintaining focus and the proper conditioning to go more than a few rounds. He has really worked hard the last few months and has looked great in the gym as well as in his last few fights. At 6’3/4” and 260 lbs., he is a big heavyweight. He has exceptionally quick hands and is very fluid. He is certainly young enough to still have an opportunity to compete in this division and we are looking forward to try and make a move this year. He has won 13 of his last 14 fights and if he had just made it the last 30 seconds of the Binkowski fight he would have been on a 14 fight winning streak. The silver lining in the loss is that hopefully everyone will underestimate him and someone will give him a shot thinking he is an easy fight. I think anyone who fights him will be in for a rude awakening. As he is maturing and aging he is getting even bigger and hitting even harder. He can knock a hole in a wall if he wants to.”
Raphael Butler already has a fight lined up April 26th against Otis Tisdale where he will fight the main event in Rochester, Minnesota. After that, he is looking for a step-up fight.