Tete destroys Butler in 8th round knockout!

By Boxing News - 03/06/2015 - Comments

butlerBy Scott Gilfoid: IBF super flyweight champion Zolani Tete (20-3, 17 KOs) simply had too size, too much speed, and too much talent for the badly over-matched #9 IBF, #11 WBO Paul Butler (17-1, 8 KOs) in knocking out the previously unbeaten Brit in the 8th round of their fight last Friday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK.

Tete, 26, ended the fight with a crushing right uppercut to the chin of Butler that sent the British fighter down on the canvas on his backside. Butler then sat for a second trying to collect himself before the referee Phil Edwards did the only thing he could under the circumstances and halted the fight at 1:34 of the 8th round.

Earlier in the round, Tete had nailed Butler with another huge right uppercut that stopped him in his tracks, and had him momentarily spinning his gears without moving. Once Butler started moving again, he motioned for Tete to continue to throw punches.

In hindsight, that wasn’t a good idea, because Tete quickly obliged him moments later by finishing him off with another right uppercut to the head.
The southpaw Tete was rarely hit by the shorter, slower and terribly limited Butler. Tete was able to stay on the outside for the most part, picking off Butler with shots the entire fight.

YouTube video

Butler was helpless on the outside, as his reach wasn’t long enough for him to land his power shots. Instead of doing the wise thing in closing the distance to make contact with Tete, Butler stayed on the outside for pretty much the entire fight. It resulted in the fight looking more like a sparring match between a champion and a sparring partner than an actual title fight.

Butler looked so bad in the fight it was almost like he didn’t belong in the ring with Tete. It was great match-making on Tete’s management’s part in selecting Butler for the fight, because he was no threat at all for Tete. But you’d like to have thought that the International Boxing Federation would have done a better job of vetting Buter before agreeing to sanction the fight, because Butler clearly didn’t belong in the same ring with Tete.

Had the IBF said no to the fight until Butler proved himself capable of competing with Tete by beating some quality fighters, I think the boxing fans would have been better served. But letting the fight go ahead with Butler having a resume filled largely with wins over fluff opponents, the IBF was asking for trouble in agreeing to let this fight happen.

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In other action on the card, lightweight Derry Mathews (37-9-2, 20 KOs) defeated an over-matched journeyman named Gyorgy Mizsei Jr (21-14, 12 KOs) by a 5th round stoppage. Just why Mathews was put in with someone this far out of his class is the big question. This was a horrible tune-up fight for Mathews to get him ready for his title fight against WBA champion Richard Abril on April 18th.

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Super bantamweight Jazza Dickens (19-1, 6 KOs) defeated Josh Wale (17-7-2, 10 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision. The final judges’ scored were 115-112, 115-112, and 116-110. The fight was a lot closer than it should have been, as this Dickens really struggled at times with the journeyman Wale. Dickens lost points in the 5th and 10th rounds for shouldering Wales.

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Undefeated junior middleweight Liam Smith (19-0-1, 9 KOs) stayed undefeated with an 8th round stoppage win over Robert Talarek (10-9-2, 5 KOs). The referee Mark Lyson halted the fight due to cuts by Talarek in the 8th. The official time of the stoppage was at 2:11 of the 8th.

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Undefeated light welterweight Jack Catterall (11-0, 7 KOs) defeated Cesar David Inalef (18-5-1, 5 KOs) by a 5th round stoppage.



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