For a man who sits on the brink of boxing immortality, Paul Butler cuts a remarkably relaxed and confident figure.
We chat after he has just finished another gruelling training session, which included six rounds of sparring at Joe Gallagher’s Bolton gym. The task facing Butler on Tuesday night in Tokyo is huge.
In fact, it does not get much tougher in boxing. Standing in front of Butler, and a place in the boxing history books, is Naoya Inoue.
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Nicknamed 'The Monster', Inoue holds the IBF, WBA and WBC belts and wants to clean up the division before moving up in weight – but two-time world champion Butler holds the missing piece of the puzzle.
Inoue made history back in June when he beat Nonito Donaire in a second-round technical knockout to became the first Japanese boxer to hold a world title from three different sanctioning bodies in a single weight division.
Butler (34-2,15 KOs), who won the WBO interim title in April with a unanimous points victory over Jonas Sultan at Probellum Liverpool, was then upgraded to full champion after John Riel Casimero was stripped of the belt.
The 'Baby Faced Assassin' has earned his chance to shine on the biggest stage the hard way. Like his trainer Joe Gallagher told the ECHO recently, he hasn’t got his shot at world domination through luck.
“I have done it the hard way. Since the Rodriguez loss I got left in limbo. I basically got f****d off by [Eddie] Hearn,” he tells the ECHO.
“I can half see the reason why. I failed weight and lost. Then I basically had nothing. I had no promoter and Joe was my manager and I was back on the small hall shows.
“We were waiting for our shot and went on the World Boxing Series as reserves. Got a good ranking, we were waiting and then Covid hit.
“MTK got on the phone and we boxed on their shows. I became a mandatory challenger and then we had a lot of trouble with John Riel Casimero. I thought it was never going to happen.
“I finally got my shot against Sultan. A good and lively opponent, who had already beat Casimero and then I got elevated to full world champion and here I am now.”
And when Butler says he dropped down to the small hall shows, he really does mean the small hall shows. Fights at Woodhouse Park Lifestyle Centre, Knowsley Leisure & Culture Park, Production Park Studios and the Bolton Whites Hotel all followed his defeat to Emmanuel Rodriguez.
Such was Butler’s fall from grace, even he admits, looking back now, that he could have very easily walked away from the sport that has been, and always will be, a huge part of his life.
“I have been lashed to the side, back on the small hall shows and boxing for next to nothing. I could have easily walked away,” he says.
“But I never and I have always had it in my head that you have got another world title in you. I have always wanted to go into the ring as a world champion.
“I never got the chance the first time as I knew I was always going to be vacating to go back down to super-flyweight.
“I have always had that and I think I have done it the hard way. I have always had to rebuild and now I am in the biggest fight out there for any bantamweight out there.
“I remember being in the gym, I was fit and always ready, and Joe said to me: 'Do you want to box on one of my shows in 12 days?' And I said: 'Yeah'. I was buzzing.
“I think I weighed in at 9st 2lbs. But I was ready and I was fit. I got the rounds in and then I boxed not long after on a Steve Wood show.”
And if trying to work your way back up to the biggest stage isn’t tough enough, the Covid pandemic then stopped Butler in his tracks and left him fearing his boxing career was over.
“It was literally just before Covid and I boxed on that and then Covid hit in March. I thought it was going to be a two or three week thing,” he tells the ECHO.
“I carried on training and it went on and on. I was just thinking when is this going to end. I was 31 and thinking this is it.
“I think anyone in and around my age was thinking what is going on. I wasn’t too bad for your prospects, who are 21 or 22, because they are always going to have time on their side.”
Butler isn’t just a talented boxer, he is an exceptional sportsman. He can box, play football, play golf and is a master at the pool table. He is just someone who loves the challenge of playing sport.
As well as coaching at his local boxing club, Wirral CP Boxing, Butler also manages Sutton Athletic FC. He guided the club to a West Cheshire League double last season.
“In anything I do, I am a winner. Like if I go golfing and we are playing for £1 or £100 I have got to win,” he says when asked about his sporting talents.
“It is the same with pool. I am always playing pool for money. And when I say money, I mean big money, thousands and thousands of pounds.
“I just like a challenge and keeps me out of boxing constantly. I don’t like going golfing or playing pool and sitting there talking about boxing.
“I like my down time and I like going to the amatuer gym. It is something away from me boxing.”
Inoue is No. 2 in ESPN's pound-for-pound rankings and in the eyes of many people will start the fight as the big favourite in front of his home fans at the Ariake Arena.
“I had that in my last fight. Everybody said about Casimero. I didn’t have a chance and he hits too hard,” Butler responds when asked about what is being said about the fight.
“I would have done to Casimero what I did to Sultan. I would have boxed the ears off him. Everybody said it about Sultan. He will blast Paul out, he’s too big a puncher.
“But you can’t hit what you can’t see. Joe sent me a video of him and I said to him he can’t beat me.
“We went out with a game plan and the only time we got to work properly on that game plan was in the changing rooms before the fight and we nailed it.”
And when asked if he is feeling any pressure ahead of the fight, Butler fires back, saying: “There is absolutely no pressure on me at all.
“No one believes I am going to win. I am happy here just getting on with my job and doing my little thing. We will go over there and let's see how it plays out.
“Listen, I am quietly confident. I know it is a big task and I know I have got to be switched on for 36 minutes.
“If I switch off for five or 10 seconds it will be lights out. Game over. But listen, I have signed up for this and I wouldn’t want to be in any place.”
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