Butlin: A F***ing Joke! Shannon Briggs Reps Are W*nkers!

By Elliot Foster

Paul Butlin has hit out at the representatives of a former world champion after he was denied the chance to fight him.

The Leicestershire-born heavyweight was on the shortlist to be in the opposite corner to Shannon Briggs at London’s O2 Arena this weekend, as part of the supporting cast to David Haye’s second comeback showdown against undefeated Arnold Gjergjaj.

But Briggs’ team decided against the challenge of the 40-year-old and instead elected to face Argentina’s Emilio Ezequiel Zarate over the scheduled 10-round distance on Saturday.

“I think his [Shannon Briggs’] representatives are w*nkers,” said Butlin, who revealed to Boxing Scene that he was set to be on the undercard of David Haye’s last fight against Mark de Mori.

“I was supposed to face Adam Machaj this weekend, but he pulled out with a wrist injury, and then Kash Ali in Sheffield and he pulled out. It’s sh*t, it was a load of bollocks, they just didn’t want the fight, either of them.

“After that disappointment and me not having a fight, [my manager] Carl [Greaves] said: ‘I can get Briggs’.

“I said: ‘Get him, we’ll have it, I’ll stick it on him.’

“I didn’t have it confirmed and was getting told that I’d know in an hour or later on today, this was yesterday, and then I find out that they’ve picked the other kid.

“It’s a f***ing joke.”

Butlin, who shared the ring with current IBF heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua in what was only the Olympic champion’s second paid start, is worried about the state of British boxing when it comes to prospects and established names alike.

“There are too many that want to protect themselves and don’t want to be in proper fights.

“Briggs is one of them. The kid he’s fighting is sh*t. He was sh*t against Hughie Fury when they boxed [in November, 2015] and he’ll be sh*t this weekend, so why didn’t they pick me? At least I’ll have a go.

“I’ve not got a fight lined up but am hoping that I’ll get a call very soon as I miss being in the ring.”

“And one thing about me,” Butlin said, “is that I don’t give a sh*t. I’ll go anywhere and fight anyone.”

Butlin was a late starter in the sport and didn’t turn professional until the age of 28.

He has been in with the likes of Dereck Chisora, Albert Sosnowski, Johnathon Banks and Johann Duhaupas and despite having a losing record, the Midlands Area titlist says that he will look back with pride.

“After I was stopped by Joshua, people said I was shit and washed up. People said the same about Charles Martin after Joshua won the [IBF world] title.

“But you don’t realise until you get in with [Joshua] just how hard he hits and how much he hurts you.

“It wasn’t that Charles Martin was sh*t, it was that he got hit hard and he was hit f***ing clean too. That’s why he was stopped. Not because he was no good.”

“Anyway,” Butlin continues, jokingly, “back to it.

“I’ve lost a lot of fights and I’ve not really been beaten up, apart from when I boxed AJ, but I can look back on my career when I hang my gloves up and say that I’ve boxed some of the best fighters in Europe, having boxed all over the place.

“Not like some of these clowns nowadays who win a British Challenge belt, have had under 10 fights and think they’re world champions, then defend it in their home towns and that’s their careers over.

“I’ll look back in years to come knowing that I’ve had a proper career and done well for myself and my family.

“How many others can?”

Butlin told Boxing Scene that he is ready for his next fight and will take “whatever comes, whenever it comes.”

“That’s life,” he concludes, “and that’s what you’ve got to do.”