Who was the best Butterbean ever beat? Or, beyond a 52-year-old Larry Holmes, even fought for that matter?
Some of the losses on his record are against complete bums. But I do remember some naive fight-fans bigging up his prospects when he allegedly had a few credible wins. Who were the best opponents he beat?
Must be honest - if only for his novelty value - I was always a huge fan of the Bean. Good entertainment, brought some fun into the sport.
Sad when after 50+ fights your best win was over Louis Monaco. I think his fights were for entertainment purposes only but I do admit he lasted the distance with a fifty year old Holmes.
Strange but if not for the present state of the nsb I probably wouldn't be discusing Butterbean. LOL
The guy certainly hits hard, and has reasonably fast hands for a man his size. But he was never anything other than a side show attraction with limited boxing ability. He was exposed quite early on in his career by Mitch Rose .
He maybe could have been a bit better if he got down to a proper fighting weight. But even then I'd doubt he'd ever have been any more than a decent journeyman at best. He's had a few wins in MMA against limited fighters after an embarrassing defeat to the talented Genki Sudo - a man only half his size. I believe he had a kickboxing match or two, and got his legs taken away by Mike Bernardo. He might be somewhat of a gimmick, but he seems like a pretty tough guy and certainly has power. Rubbish boxer or not, he's not the sort of man you'd like to get into a fight with in a bar or confined space.
Yup, a novely fighter. But all the same a novelty who did rack up 77 career wins.
I know he fought Marc Potter in an unofficial bout recently and was destroyed inside a round.
However, some of those 77 wins must have been against fairly average opponents and not all no-hopers? George Linberger? He once drew with Jason Farley who eventually fought Samuel Peter. He also beat Russell Chasteen who fought Tua, Botha, Akinwande and Briggs.