Steven Butler had been looking forward to facing promotional stablemate Erik Bazinyan in a super middleweight clash on Thursday.
However, for the third time this year the snake-bitten fight fell out and instead Butler will face Stephane Fondjo, who stepped in at 17-days notice, at the Montreal Casino, Montreal.
Butler isn’t fazed by the prospect of a new opponent.
“I think both have similar styles, they were going to move a lot, they’re good boxers, so at the end, the game plan is the same,” Butler said.
“We’re going to cut the ring, break him down and then finish him.”
This will be the sixth fight of the Butler union with highly respect American coach, John Scully, who guided Chad Dawson to the WBC light heavyweight title and has been a part of former undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev’s team for several years.
Photo: Vincent Ethier – Jesus Macias and Steven Butler
Since the two started working together, Butler has won four of his five fights. In those two-years, Scully feels his influence during their countless hours in training camp in Hartford, Connecticut have helped Butler improve.
“He’s a much better boxer, he’s a much better thinker,” said the trainer. “I go a lot by personality, and I could see the first day, his mentality was to kill, kill, kill. Be aggressive, throw punches, hurt people and I said, ‘You’re going to hurt people anyway. You have to set it up.’ That’s the only real big difference.
“The last fight was a perfect example of what we’re trying to accomplish and what he can do. His last fight was very indicative of who he is now.”
The 30-year-old will be taking part in his second fight at the new weight after a catchweight contest earlier this year.
“Now I don’t lose my mind, I’m still smiling,” he said. “I can make 160 but I’m going to lose my muscle, my energy and after two or three rounds, I’m gonna be done. Now, I can do 12-rounds. That’s the best thing we did for my career.
“All the fights I lost at 160, the Patrice Volny, Brandon Cook – I don’t want to talk about Janibek [Alimkhanuly] or [Ryota] Murata, I respect both of them – but I would not lose the fight with Volny or Cook at 168.”
Scully saw during Butler’s audition to fight at super middleweight that it was the right move and didn’t want him to unnecessarily drain himself to drop to 160.
Photo: Bernard Brault – Steven Butler vs Stephane Fondjo
“Mentally he’s better, just talking to him, he even said, ‘This is the first time I haven’t been crazy. I haven’t been angry.’ I know from doing it myself, when you’re struggling to make weight, it’s a miserable time. You can see he’s a much different person and it’s for the better.”
Scully hopes their hard work in training camp pays dividends on fight night.
“I’d like to see him break this guy down where it’s an obvious progression, where in the first round we were OK, in the third round we were better, in the fifth round this guy is really fading and by the ninth we get him out of that. To orchestrate it and plan it out.”
And if Butler can continue to build momentum with a win over Fondjo, he has an idea in which direction he’d like to go.
“Go to the IBF because they have to weigh in the same day, so they can’t put on 30-pounds,” he explained. “I’m a small 168 with a good punch. Tomorrow I’ll be 178/ 180. I think it would be a good step to get a title shot.
“We’re coming for this guy, I know he’s going to come hungry because it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. He had a good camp because he was supposed to fight November 8, and he took this fight. At the end, we’re going to see his mistake not taking his fight on November 8.”
Photo: Noé Cloutier – Artur Beterbiev and John Scully
