By Brendan Galbraith – Bristol’s Danny Butler (18-3) will mark his fourth year as a professional when he competes in his second Prizefighter Middleweight Series at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, London on Friday 26th February 2010. Butler, is the most active boxer in the Prizefighter field, with 5, 7 and 5 outings in 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively and has been working hard for next week’s Prizefighter showdown.
Seven days to fight night – how do you feel?
I feel great. I can’t wait to get in there.. The preparation has gone excellent – it couldn’t have gone better. This time I have had the right diet and nutrition – they put me on the right diet and the weight has just come off. I have been training really hard and am raring to go.
When did you begin your training camp?
After Christmas I was straight back into the gym in January and have been training since then. Obviously the intensity has increased as we have gone on. I am chumping at the bit and ready to go.
How has your sparring gone?
I have been sparring with different types of people trying to get a good variety because in Prizefighter you do not know who you are going to be up against. So I have been sparring with pros and amateurs.
This will be your second Prizefighter appearance – what can you draw from that experience?
I am really thankful to Matchroom for giving me the second chance and I am going to take this with both hands this time and try to go one step further and win it. The last time I got to the semi-finals – this time I want to go to the final and win it. There are some good guys in it and it is going to be tough. Yeah being in it before is a bit of an experience because I don’t think any of these guys have done the three rounds (format) before. Because you have three rounds, if you win that, you have to go and sit down and relax and go back in and if you win that. Yeah, so having that experience can be a bit of an advantage. I am feeling great at the moment.
On the other competitors
I met all of them at a recent promotion event for Prizefighter the other day and my weight was fine, and they are all a good bunch of lads and I am not going to underestimate any of them. The draw is tonight and I can’t wait to see who I get drawn against.
Your thoughts on the draw tonight – is there anyone in particular that you would like to face first?
I wouldn’t say anyone in particular because I have trained to cover all of them. Obviously if I don’t get drawn the favourites that would be nice, maybe saving them for the semi finals. But I am not underestimating any of them, I am taking it one step at a time.
Who are the most dangerous opponents?
That is the good thing about Prizefighter – that explosive 3 rounder – anything can happen, that’s why I think it has gone on for long and people love watching it because anything can happen.
The main people to watch out for, from my perspective are obviously the favourites, like Bradley Pryce and Neil Sinclair. Concepcion – he is going to be quite sharp and on the ball as he fought not that long ago against Kevin Hammond. Everyone is going to be a threat. It all depends on the night and on the draw as well.
You have been very active over recent years and faced some tough opponents…
I have been very active and have learned from every single one of my fights since I turned pro and my last two fights were for the English, British and Commonwealth belts against Barker and McDermott. I took a lot of experience and learned a lot from those fights and hopefully I can carry that over. I have had a quite a few rounds last year and hopefully with that experience behind me it will give me a bit of an edge