By Danny Winterbottom

Paul Butler, 17-0 (8 KOs), gets his chance to make British boxing history on March 6 when he challenges South Africa’s IBF super flyweight champion Zolani Tete, 19-3 (16 early) at the Echo Arena in Liverpool five months on from the original date of October 25 after Tete suffered a broken hand and was forced out of the highly anticipated clash.

Having taken the IBF bantamweight title from the clutches of his former sparring partner Stuey Hall in June, Butler aims to become the first British fighter in 100 years to move down in weight and claim another global crown, but the unbeaten Ellesmere Port ace is under no illusions; this will be a tough night’s work.

“I think Tete is a great fighter” said Butler, who is unbeaten in 17 contests and a former British and Commonwealth champion.

“He is tall, long and a southpaw who can punch.  I’m sick of watching him to be honest!  We have him on in the gym everyday, but at this level I feel as though I need to watch more footage of my opponents, not too much because during the fight you start to wait for them to throw shots, just enough to exploit any weaknesses.  When I was boxing at British level I thought that if I needed to watch footage of fighters I would never become a world champion.”

Butler breezed through his preliminary competition after turning pro on Dec 11 2010 when he scored a four round points victory over tough journeyman Anwar Alfadli, then in fight number eight he was matched with former English flyweight champion Ashley Sexton at the York Hall.

Sexton was unbeaten in 14 contests (12 wins and 2 draws) yet the Ellesmere Port rising star dropped the Londoner in round 10 en route to a 98-92 point’s victory.

Liverpool’s John Donnelly (13-2) was clinically despatched by a wicked left to the body in less than three minutes by Butler in his next contest for the vacant British super flyweight title and a steady rise in competition saw Butler capture the Commonwealth strap and a WBO Inter-Continental title before the chance arose to challenge Stuart Hall for the IBF bantamweight world title in June 2014.

“I wasn’t that far away from a world title shot at super flyweight” recalled Butler.  “But the chance came up to fight Stuey, and we knew what we were up against because we had been sparring partners in the past.

“The fight was a good learning experience for me and I proved that I could take a shot and go in the trenches with a bigger guy and come out on top but I’m expecting a tougher fight in March.”

Tete, who has been out of the ring since he won the title in Japan on July 18 against then 19-0 Teiru Kinoshita, is an experienced campaigner at world title level having previously challenged unsuccessfully for Moruti Mthalane’s IBF flyweight title (TKO 5) in an all-South African affair back in 2010.

 He has since scored arguably the best win of his career when he travelled to Mexico and starched local favourite and former champion Juan Carlos Sanchez in five rounds in an eliminator in 2013.

“He won’t be afraid of coming to Liverpool,” said Butler, a decorated amateur boxing out of the Vauxhall Motors ABC in his hometown of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.

“He travels well and knocks kids out which makes him a dangerous opponent but we will go in there with a game plan, confident I can do a number on him.”

Butler’s voice crackled with excitement and anticipation of the task ahead as we talked but when Tete pulled out of the original date of October 25 with a broken hand Ellesmere Port’s ‘Baby Faced Assassin’ was almost a broken man.

“It was horrible, the worst I have felt in my career so far.  I didn’t want to talk to anyone, I didn’t want to be in the gym or even think about boxing even though I knew that I had a replacement 10 rounder on the bill.

 

“The hardest thing was dieting and going to the gym to spar and knowing that my world title fight wasn’t happening.”

 

However, an unlikely source would eventually lift the cloud of depression that had begun to engulf the 26-year-old.

 

“A day or so after the fight was off I was moving a few kids around from the Australian amateur team who had a squad over.  I didn’t feel like even letting any punches go, but it was Michael Katsidis who got my spirits up again when he came over to spar.

 

“We had a cracking spar and it got my pecker up and made me think: ‘This is boxing, just get on with it.’”

 

Butler faced late replacement Ismael Garnica (13-4-1) of Mexico in a 10 round contest and although as expected he was thoroughly dominant on his way to a 100-91 victory, the man from Morelia, Michoacan de Ocampo, came to fight and provided a solid workout.

 

“I think I put on a decent display, nothing spectacular but it at least gave me some rounds before this (Tete) fight,” Butler conceded

 

“I had asked for Kohei Kono (Japan’s 34-year-old WBA super flyweight champion who recently drew his last contest against Norberto Jimenez in Japan on Dec 31) to be brought over but I knew deep down it was too short notice for a world champion, I was just disappointed.”

 

Whilst Butler was watching what he ate over the festive period in preparation for his March date Japanese sensation Naoya Inoue (8-0, 7 KO’s) moved up from light flyweight, where he held the WBC title following a brutal six round hammering of recognised divisional number one Adrien Hernandez in April, to challenge vastly experienced and long standing WBO 115lbs champion Omar Narvaez.

 

Narvaez (43-2-2) had made 11 successful defences of his world title and lasted the distance with P4P (at the time) star Nonito Donaire up at 118lbs in 2011 when he travelled outside of his native Argentina for the first time in four years to the fabled Madison Square Garden in New York.

 

Donaire outclassed the much smaller Narvaez but Inoue—a six-time national high school champion and a product of the gym run by former minimum weight world titlist Hideyuki Ohashi—dropped the veteran four times and destroyed him in a clinical display that secured the young Japanese FOTY honours with many in the know.

 

“I watched the fight (Narvaez v Inoue) the day after” said Butler.  “The kid (Inoue) looked really sharp but Narvaez never threw a shot did he?  It was his sharpness that stood out for me above everything.  The right hand that knocked Narvaez down in round one hit his gloves but he didn’t see it coming behind the first one that knocked him onto his heels.

 

“The body shot that finished the fight I thought Narvaez could have got up from but he probably thought at that point he wasn’t gonna win the fight anyway.

 

“He’s a good kid but I heard he might drop down to flyweight to fight Roman Gonzalez for the WBC title.  I’m mandatory for the WBO title and I will fight anyone who has the belt, but I’ve got Tete to think about first then maybe we can sort out a unification fight with the Mexican [WBC champion Carlos Cuadras] or perhaps Zou Shiming?”