If you’ve followed his career, you already know this: Steven Butler has always been just one win away from a high-profile fight. And on Thursday night, the Montrealer did his part, stopping Cameroon’s Stéphane Fondjo in the 9th round of a trench war at the Montreal Casino.
But if you haven’t followed his career or watched the fight, the result of the bout between Butler (37-5-1, 31 KOs) and Fondjo (14-2-1, 9 KOs) could be misleading…
Even though “Bang Bang” had dynamite in his fists, his opponent showed resilience and a tremendous amount of heart. Fondjo dragged Butler into deep waters. After being knocked down twice, the Cameroonian kept pushing and enjoyed several great moments.
Should we be worried about seeing Butler face a higher-level opponent?
Photo: Jeff Lockhart – Stephane Fondjo and Steven Butler
Yes and no. If there’s one thing you can’t criticize the Quebec fighter for, it’s his determination. In the past, Steven has suffered heartbreaking defeats on the international stage. But one way or another, he has always managed to bounce back and put himself back in a favorable position. That’s more or less what he just did.
By winning, Steven Butler finds himself in familiar territory. He may not have whiskers or boots, but what he certainly does have is nine lives.
EOTTM has shown it doesn’t fear matching two fighters from its own stable.
Steven Butler was supposed to face Erik Bazinyan (32-1-1, 23 KOs) three times…
And three times, it fell through.
After three strikes, Bazinyan is now suspended.
After three wins, Butler is back in business.
So what will we remember from the “Bazinyan debacle”? One thing: three times over, Steven Butler was ready to do anything to climb quickly in the super-middleweight world rankings.
Photo: Jeff Lockhart – Wilkens Mathieu and Shakeel Phinn
And it works out well, because even without Bazinyan, a certain Wilkens Mathieu (15-0, 10 KOs) holds two belts that could offer Butler exactly what he’s looking for. At this stage of their careers, this fight makes sense. Wilkens would get the chance to add a respected name to his résumé, and Steven would have the opportunity to pull a trick out of his hat while ranking among the WBC’s best fighters.
It would be a 100% local, 100% EOTTM fight. You can almost guarantee the fans would show up.
Butler may be 30 years old, but time is starting to move quickly for him. He’s been in the pro ranks for over 11 years. If he wants to aim for major honors, he can’t take the long way around.
“No Detour,” as the slogan said on the poster of the now-defunct trilogy.
Photo: Vincent Ethier – Erik Bazinyan and Steven Butler
Jhon Orobio: Elite Level, and Quickly!
In a different context, Jhon Orobio (16-0, 14 KOs) now finds himself somewhere completely new to him—the big leagues.
Context #1: “El Tigre” surprised all boxing fans by stopping former world champion Xolisani Ndongeni (33-8, 19 KOs) in the second round.
Context #2: The African fighter had gone the full 10 rounds with Devin Haney, and more importantly, with other big punchers like Raymond Muratalla and Ernesto Mercado.
Most boxing fans already knew Jhon was a very good fighter. However, on Thursday night he proved which class he really belonged to. He treated his opponent like a simple object placed in his path.
Photo: Bernard Brault – Jhon “El Tigre” Orobio
We can therefore agree that Jhon Orobio no longer needs to face mid-level opponents. At only 22 years old, it’s already time to put him in a major fight.
Is it possible? You’d have to be crazy to think otherwise…
Orobio is an ambassador for Ring Magazine.
That means Turki Al-Sheikh has big plans for him…
And when it comes to their big plans, the Saudis rarely have trouble funding them.
