Steven Butler went to eat after his defeat by knockout, Saturday night in Stockton, his heart drowned in disappointment. Not too physically damaged. Even though referee Jack Reiss could have been charged with criminal negligence had something more tragic happened in the ring. Afterwards, Steven tried to be comforted and ended up falling asleep.
• Read also: Butler didn’t want us to stop the fight
• Read also: Disappointment in the Butler camp
Upon awakening, the wounds that really hurt were those of the soul. Those of the heart. Those of the 27-year-old young man who finds himself in front of a mountain to climb.
For the third time in his career. Perhaps for the tenth time in his young life.
A mountain he had climbed after his knockout loss in Japan to Ryota Murata four years ago.
An even higher mountain that he had managed to climb after his defeat by K.-O. against Jose de Jesus Macias in Mexico six months later. In the midst of a pandemic.
Each time, Steven Butler had managed to recover. By changing coaches, returning with Rénald Boisvert and his father Clint Butler, counting on Marc Ramsay as a guide to Stockton in California and Janibek Alimkhanuly.
By winning fights against good opponents… in the American League.
Fact that the day Top Rank called its promoter Camille Estephan offering him another chance to fight for a world title by facing Janibek Alimkhanuly, Steven Butler believed it. Although Janibek Alimkhanuly is nicknamed “the most avoided boxer in the world“. The boxer we push ourselves the most in the world.
BACK TO HOME
We know the result. On social media, aside from the usual nastiness, most fans respect Butler’s attempt and how far he’s come each time to get to the top. Because he, in his profession, went to the world championship twice.
Which accountant, which bartender, which lawyer, which driver, which nurse, which teacher can boast of having worked only with the best in the profession?
We know it now, Butler is a very good boxer. But when you have to climb another step of the staircase that leads to a world title, the margin is too big. At the level of Murata or Alimkhanuly, the slightest mistake does not forgive.
No doubt Steven Butler, lost in thought on the plane that brought him back from California yesterday, was trying to accept this reality.
And that nothing in his entire life, other than the loss of one of his two children, could hurt him more. It’s visceral pain. Who squeezes the heart. When he got home, he had to explain to his eldest Mason, that dad was brave but he wasn’t good enough to win. That he made a mistake in his fight and that sometimes in life, when you make a mistake, the consequences are terrible.
Then this morning, you had to live. Talk to friends, relatives, find out what is being said. And think. Think again. And try to soothe this pain that strangles when you know that no one can understand what you are going through.
The defeat. Abandonment. The lost glory. The illusions to rebuild.
THE STANLEY CUP FINAL
And yet. Let Steven Butler repeat it to himself. What he has done deserves admiration.
He fought twice in the world championship. Against real ones. There are 1555 middleweight boxers registered with BoxRec. Of these 1555 boxers, not even 2% will fight for a title in the next few years. Butler did it twice. By rebuilding three times.
Are you more comfortable with hockey? There are 350 players who play each year in the QMJHL. They are about thirty Quebecers in the National League. They are the result of fifteen years of drafting. It means that only one or two percent of these young prospects make a career in the NHL. The others, although the best, earn their living in the American League, in Europe or even in Russia. It is honorable and they have merit.
The problem is that they play hockey. We don’t play boxing. The investment of a boxer in his job must be complete. Total. A devouring passion, otherwise it’s a Spartan life too hard for an ordinary man. And it will be one day for female boxers.
Steven Butler is only 27 years old. But he finds himself at a crossroads. If he continues to box because it’s what he loves, what makes him happy and especially what allows him to feed his little family with the help of his wife, then he will make the decision. But both his promoter and his trainer will make sure he does not put his health at risk.
And that he is aware that the next few years will be made up of local fights and clashes with mid-level boxers.
It could also be years that would allow Steven Butler to begin his conversion to what will be his life anyway when he retires.
Simon Kean has his contractor’s license, Lucian Bute had obtained his baccalaureate in administration in the last years of his career, Eric Lucas has long driven heavy trucks on the roads of America…
But Steven must first find out what he would like to do once boxing is over…
And that is not obvious.
In the notebook
By the time the fight was stopped, Reynald Boisvert had already climbed the stairs at the corner to ask the referee to stop everything… Butler received 200,000 US dollars for the evening.