Paul Butler remains unfazed by cynics who predict his painful downfall when he attempts to unify the world bantamweight belts against boxing’s pound-for-pound No.2 Naoya Inoue next month.
The Ellesmere Port pugilist (34-2, 15 KOs) travels to Tokyo on December 13th, seeking to upset odds of 20-1 against.
“I’m not **** about them anymore. I used to sit there and let them proper do my head in”, said Butler, speaking to the ECHO.
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“Then I thought 'hang on, Darren from Birmingham - who’s 22 stone, sat on his couch - wants to give me s**t and he’s delivering the papers every morning?'
“I honestly don’t understand how people can sit there and give people s*** - all day, every day. They’ve probably never put on a glove in their life. If half of them just had a jab in the face, they’d respect us a bit more. Years ago, I would’ve been bothered.
“Just leave me to do what I need to do. I deserve my seat at the table.”
The indomitable Inoue, dubbed 'The Monster', has accumulated 20 chilling knockouts in 23 professional outings. After cleaning out the bantamweight division - accruing the WBC, WBA, IBF and The Ring belts en route - Butler’s WBO belt remains his final ambition before a likely move up to the 122lb super-bantamweight class.
The spat in Tokyo will see Butler operate outside the UK for the first time in his 12-year pro career. To add to the task, 'Baby-Faced Assassin' Butler must contend with the nine-hour time difference in the short time he is there.
And with home combatants routinely receiving better favour with the officials, history dictates Butler might require a stoppage to get his hand raised.
“I probably do (need to stop him), but I’ve got to be clever with it”, affirms Butler. “I can’t go in there, lock horns with him and go to war.
“If I switch off for ten seconds, it could be lights out, ‘game over’. He punches that hard. I’ve gotta ease myself into the fight.
“The first three rounds are very dangerous with him. As the rounds go on, it’s about moving your feet and setting traps. I’m gonna have to dig the body as well. Going down the home straight, I might need a stoppage.”
Fighting on foreign fields brings the added prospect of a hostile reception. However, the 5’6” Butler, who boxed in all corners of the globe during a decorated amateur career, is adamant that local fans shall not unnerve him at the 15,000-capacity Ariake Arena.
“When you visualise unifying a division or becoming undisputed champion, you always picture it being in The States,” he says. “The Brits and Americans are proper in-your-face fans, aren’t we? “We’re up out the seats, we’re all singing, we’re all cheering.”
“This is a little bit different in Japan. I think the atmosphere is gonna be something I’ve not really been used to.
“In Japan, it’s all very respectful, they’re all sat there with their masks on. They (the Japanese fans) are pretty silent until a good shot lands, then you get a few claps.
“Closest I’ve probably been to it is during the lockdown when I boxed in front of no one! Besides, I’m taking about 30 (people) over myself, I’m sure they’ll be making a bit of racket. They’ll all be thinking, ‘who’s this lot in the corner over there?’
“All the screaming and shouting, they won’t have seen it before (laughs). It’ll be an experience for them too.”
And the Mersey mite exudes a quiet confidence that he can succeed where legends fell short and won world title belts on foreign climes.
“He’s not untouchable,” he concludes. “I might need a stoppage but it’s definitely doable.”
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