Boxing legend Butterbean, 58, wants to fight Tyson Fury and his DAD John after dramatic weight loss
The American - real name Eric Esch - became a fans' favourite during the 1990s for his run of knockouts.
Advertisement
5
Butterbean has announced plans to make a boxing comeback
Credit: Getty
5
Tyson Fury and his dad John have been called out by Butterbean
Credit: Splash
During the height of his career
and only ever went past the fourth round once - against the great Larry Holmes.
His last boxing bout was 12 years ago but
Butterbean has since announced comeback on Instagram
having lost a stunning
15 STONE
.
And he wants to fight two-time heavyweight champion Fury - after a warm-up against his 60-year-old dad John.
Butterbean told
Advertisement
READ MORE IN BOXING
'And then I'd want to beat the son up pretty bad. I would love to fight Tyson Fury. You know, I was offered to fight his dad. And it's been a while back.
'I'd love to fight him, either one of them. But yeah, Tyson Fury is the one I'd really want.
'His dad would be an easy fight. That'd be a couple-rounder. I'd be like, 'Go out there and just have fun and then get ready for the son.' It'd be a warm-up fight.
'I mean, now that I believe in myself, I can do anything. And since I'm in such great shape, I know I can accomplish my goals.'
Advertisement
Most read in Boxing
CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS
Butterbean's dramatic body transformation came after starring in a reality TV show with WWE great Diamond Dallas Page.
The famed puncher used yoga and dietary changes to go from wheelchair bound to competing again.
Ageless Irish heartthrob looks completely different as he steps into ring as boxing legend in new biopic
In a video posted in July, Butterbean said: "I let myself get knocked down after boxing.
Advertisement
"Nobody ever thought I'd ever get out of the wheelchair let alone come back and fight.
"But I hit rock bottom and fell and I've got a hell of a lot more to prove. It's official, Butterbean is back."
Butterbean has also
His last fight was in 2013, a boxing bout he lost to Kirk Lawton in Australia.
Advertisement
Butterbean also ventured into kickboxing, MMA and professional wrestling - even having a stint in the
WWE.
He returned to the wrestling ring in April in Las Vegas where fans voiced their
5
Butterbean made a wrestling return in April
Credit: X @GPWProductions
5
He has lost 15 stone in retirement
Credit: https://www.instagram.com/butterbeanboxer/
Advertisement
5
Butterbean has not boxed since 2013
Credit: AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
15 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Tom Dunne: CMAT, Fontaines, and Kneecap to the fore in a golden age for Irish music
I hate to throw phrases like 'A Golden Age of Irish Music' around but, as politicians like to say, it is what it is. Homework was cancelled when Thin Lizzy had a hit with Whiskey in the Jar. By that metric the current success of Irish bands should warrant about a month off school. To put it in perspective, imagine if Glastonbury was taking place next year (it isn't, it's a rest year). No eyelid would bat if CMAT did the Pyramid Stage on Friday and Fontaines DC did the same Saturday. Hozier could play too. In Irish music history that is unprecedented. And before you split hairs with me CMAT played to a bigger more appreciative audience this year at Glastonbury than the later headliners The 1975 did. And that's before she releases her new album Euro-Country. Behold our new masters: CMAT I was at All Together Now the day after CMAT played. She was all anyone was talking about. People said she's been a bit emotional on stage, overwhelmed by the audience response. However emotional she may have been she wasn't as teary as the people telling me this. They adored her. Part of CMAT's appeal is her charm and relatability. She is down-to-earth and hilarious. She tells people she slept for 13 hours' after Glastonbury, the 'best sleep since November.' She also informs us that she writes albums quickly because, 'This might go away tomorrow.' She is genius songwriter with a gift for the killer line. I Wanna Be a Cowboy Baby, Stay for Something, Take a Sexy Picture of Me and The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station are equal parts heartbreak, wry observation and tragicomedy. It is a CMAT universe of KFC chicken wings and heartbreak. She has been on the receiving end of trolling over her physical appearance since the BBC Big Weekend of 2024. No surprise there, the internet is a cesspit, but she is forgiving even of that explaining that those who speak badly of her may not be having a great time of it themselves. It is this that I think is the key to her relatability. She is more at the Jarvis Cocker end of the celebrity spectrum than the diva end, and thank God for that. If you can't look at someone on stage and imagine, just briefly 'that could be me' then what's the point? She is all of that and yet has the self-possession on stage of a superstar. The CMAT FOR PRESIDENT movement starts today. Carlos O'Connell, Tom Coll, Conor Deegan III and Grian Chatten of Fontaines DC. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty) Fontaines DC 'The biggest Irish group since U2' is the phrase being bandied about. I think that's unfair to the Cranberries, but I can see where they are going. Quite simply since their debut album Dogrel in 2019 they have not put a foot wrong. They are incendiary live with a reputation that has proceeded them around the world. Key to that in Grian Chatten. He has a voice that at first seems incongruous, but which utterly defines their uniqueness. The minute you hear it on radio you think 'Fontaines DC'. Like CMAT, the flow of material is eye-watering. Despite an incredibly demanding touring schedule, they also produce new material as if also working to a 'this might go away tomorrow' mantra. Go on their website to see the sheer extent of their worldwide appeal – its Sweden today, Helsinki the 10th, Manchester the 15th and on and on. Kneecap onstage at Glastonbury. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) Kneecap I had thought of Hozier for the third slot as his various successes – sell out USA arenas, UK and US number ones, 1.6 billion Spotify plays for Too Sweet, and 3.1 billion for Take me to Church – obviously warrant it, but I had to go for Kneecap. Their success is just too hilarious to ignore. I don't think the British establishment has been this convulsed, this driven to new extremes of self-righteous indignation since the Sex Pistols released God Save The Queen. It's heart-warming to see. A group rapping in Irish. A man in a balaclava. An audience singing 'Get your Brits out.' How have I lived to see such wonders? Am I dreaming? There are more I could add here, Inhaler for a start, but let's leave it there and prepare our minds for the Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast, August 29. Fontaines DC and Kneecap in a town where on July 12 I saw both Union Jacks and Israeli flags flying side by side. It's going to be interesting.
Irish Daily Mirror
15 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
John Martin the hero as Shelbourne record famous European win in Croatia
John Martin was the hero with his header sealing a second-half comeback as Shelbourne recorded a famous 2-1 over Croatian giants Rijeka in the first-leg of their Europa League third qualifying round clash. Played at Stadion Rujevica, the temporary home of Rijeka while their stadium gets redeveloped, Shelbourne came into Wednesday night's tie as massive underdogs with some bookmakers pricing the Irish champions at 12/1 to win in Croatia. 11 draws have curtailed Shelbourne's Premier Division title defence and led to the departure of Damien Duff earlier this Summer. A draw would have been an excellent result on Wednesday at the temporary home of the Croatian champions, who got their title defence under way with a win last weekend. Manager Joey O'Brien insisted earlier in the week that his team weren't thinking of 'plan b' scenarios as a rematch with Linfield looms in the event that Shels fail to progress through this tie. O'Brien was forced into 'plan b' early in the match however, with striker Sean Boyd pulling up injured and being replaced by Martin after just 21 minutes. Martin's introduction led to Shelbourne's first bright piece of play of the night. The League of Ireland champions broke sharply down the right flank but just when things were starting to look promising, Kameron Ledwidge coughed up possession and Shels retreated back into their low block. The hosts enjoyed the majority of the ball for practically the entire first period, but they failed to make much of an impression on the game. Ante Orec made a few decent sojourns down the right hand side, but his end product was lacking. It took until the 45th minute for the Croats to finally heap some pressure on Shels. A left-footed Niko Jankovic drive stung the palms of Wessel Speel in goal. Two resulting corners were scrambled clear by the Dublin side and as the half-time whistle blew, a smattering of whistles could be heard from the unhappy home fans. The game needed a goal to spark the tie into life and it came 10 minutes into the second-half in bizarre fashion. Speel made a mess of a simple back-pass, fouled Merveil Ndockyt in the area, and Jankovic slotted the resulting penalty with ease. But within a minute Shelbourne were level. Kerr McInroy flashed a deflected shot wide before Shels worked a clever corner routine which saw Milan Mbeng head back across goal to set-up a simple headed finish for Sam Bone. Rijeka were left furious as they believed their goalkeeper had been fouled. VAR took a look, but luck was on Shelbourne's side and the goal was given. That dour first-half now a distant memory, both sides hunted the go ahead goal. Simon Butic forced Speel into an excellent save to deny a swerving, dipping effort, before Martin's rasping shot evaded the top-left corner by inches. With 20 minutes left on the clock, Shelbourne hit the front. The lively Mbeng fed Harry Wood on the right, who fizzed in an incredible cross that was planted by Martin into the top corner to send the Shels supporters behind the goals into raptures. The expected onslaught from the hosts came too little too late as Shelbourne saw out the game fairly comfortably. Rijeka huffed and puffed, but failed to create anything of note for the last quarter of an hour. There was a last minute VAR check for a potential handball to keep Shels fans on the edge of their seats, but it was rightly waved away and the League of Ireland Champions will take a 2-1 lead into the second-leg at Tolka Park.
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
'We just got lucky': Tales from the Cork lads who ran merchandise stalls for Oasis in the 1990s
Morty McCarthy remembers the first time he met one of the Gallagher brothers. It was February 1992, and the Cork man and his band, the Sultans of Ping, were sharing a bill with fellow Leesiders the Frank and Walters at the Boardwalk venue in Manchester. A local lad by the name of Noel popped up during the soundcheck to say hello. He'd been rehearsing in one of the other rooms with an unsigned group he said were called 'Oasis', and wanted to reacquaint with the Franks, a band he'd previously worked with as a roadie. Little did anyone there know that the 'sound' 21-year-old and the four lads banging out tunes in the basement were on their way to becoming the biggest band in Britain. Or that McCarthy would have a front seat on the Oasis rollercoaster. As the Sultans' career plateaued, the Greenmount drummer ended up working with the Manchester band's merchandise material in the era when they exploded onto the scene. His switch of career to the merchandise world originated in his Sultans days when, as the non-drinker in the band, McCarthy was the designated van driver. During a period of downtime in early 1994, he heard that their merchandise company Underworld needed somebody to ferry gear to various gigs. McCarthy signed up, and drafted in his childhood pal Damien Mullally when an opening came up for somebody to look after the company's London warehouse. 'Underworld were probably the biggest merchandise outfit in the UK at the time,' recalls McCarthy. 'We just got lucky, because we all started working literally a couple of months before the whole Britpop thing broke. And Underworld not only had Oasis, they also had Pulp.' Liam and Noel Gallagher messing about at Knebworth in 1996. Mullally and McCarthy enjoyed working in the merchandise, travelling to gigs and making the most of life in London. In true Cork style, they'd even managed to secure jobs in Underworld for a few more of their mates from home. Not that it was all plain sailing. There was still an element of anti-Irish feeling in the UK in the mid-1990s – especially in the wake of the IRA bombing of the Bishopsgate financial district in 1993 – and going around in a van full of boxes meant the Cork duo were regularly stopped and questioned at police checkpoints. 'We also got a bit of it around Abbey Wood where we lived, but things were much better when we moved to Hackney, which was more multicultural,' says Mullally. Meanwhile, between April 1994 and the release of Definitely Maybe at the end of August, a real buzz was building around Oasis. The three singles Supersonic, Shakermaker, and Live Forever, had been hitting incrementally higher chart positions, and the album went straight to number one in the UK charts. The Gallagher brothers had arrived. For the Cork duo, the gigs they worked were getting ever busier, and the few dozen t-shirts and other bits they'd previously sold were now getting to hundreds and even thousands of units. Underworld realised they were going to need a bigger boat. Or at least a decent lorry. This created a bit of a conundrum as nobody in the company had the special licence required in the UK. Step forward the lad with the Irish licence which, at the time, was universal and didn't need the special HGV training. 'I'd never even sat in the truck before,' recalls McCarthy, now 55, of the day they went to hire their new vehicle from a yard near King's Cross. 'I just thought, how hard can it be? We got in and the first thing I did was hit a barrier. I was just thinking 'I'm not going to be able to reverse this. So whatever we do, we'll just have to drive it forward'. I suppose we had this 'It'll be grand' attitude. I wouldn't do it at this age!' Morty McCarthy on a merchandise stall back in the 1990s. Life on the road was a mixture of good fun and hard work. Depending on the tour, Mullally and McCarthy would sometimes be living on the crew's bus, or other times driving to venues themselves. Of course there were some late nights and partying along the way, but the Oasis entourage also had a serious work ethic. 'If everybody knew that did a couple of days off, then there might be a big party and a bit of a blowout. But a lot of the time, people were up early to get set up at the next venue, and working long hours through the day. You wouldn't have been able to do your job if you were partying all the time,' says Mullally, now working at the Everyman theatre in Cork. 'People got on very well on tour. You knew you just couldn't be invading people's private space or doing the langer in any way.' The band themselves travelled in a different bus, but both Mullally and McCarthy recall the Gallagher brothers as being down-to-earth lads who were always pleasant to deal with. 'I think because we were Irish, that helped too,' says Mullally. 'Yes,' agrees McCarthy. 'I even remember Noel joking with us about Taytos and Tanora!' He does recall a friendly disagreement before a gig in Bournemouth when Liam Gallagher fancied his footwear. 'We had this Dutch driver who used to come every week delivering merchandise, and he used to sell Adidas off the back of the truck. I'd bought this pair of orange Adidas. Liam collected Adidas trainers. He was like 'I'm having your trainers.' And I was going no, and he was like '100 quid!'.' While it was predominantly merchandise that kept Mullally and McCarthy involved with Oasis, they also dropped a load of equipment for the band to Rockfield Studios in 1995. Those sessions at the Welsh studio would of course spawn (What's the Story) Morning Glory?,the second album that would propel the band to stratospheric levels of popularity. On the road, part of the Cork duo's job was dealing with the increasing amount of bootleggers who were selling unofficial merchandise near the venues. 'We'd go out to chat to them, and then of course it'd turn out that a lot of them were friends of the Gallaghers from Manchester,' says Mullally. 'They were mostly nice guys so you'd just ask them to push back a bit – 'Just go down to the end of the road to sell your stuff'.' The mid-1990s was an era when everything was paid for in cash. This meant the two Cork lads would sometimes end up with tens of thousands worth of banknotes in cardboard boxes or plastic bags in the back of the truck or in a hotel after a gig. Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis arriving at Cork Airport in 1996. Picture: Dan Linehan An event like Knebworth in 1996 – when Oasis played to 250,000 people across two days – created even more issues. 'A few times a day we used to do a cash-run to get the money off the stall. Somebody would come along with a backpack and we'd stuff it with maybe 10 grand in notes," says Mullally. "You'd try to be as inconspicuous as you could walking through the crowd with that on your back, hoping that nobody comes at you.' Knebworth had 'proper' security vans taking the cash from the event HQ, but Mullally recalls the earlier days when himself and his co-worker would have to bank the money. 'You can imagine with all the stuff that was going on at the time, and two Irish guys coming into the bank with 20 grand in cash, sometimes even in deutsche marks if we were after a European tour. They'd be looking at you strangely, and you know that they're just about to push a button. But they might make a few phonecalls or whatever and we'd eventually get it done.' Knebworth is widely regarded as the high point for the band, but McCarthy also has particularly warm memories of the gig they played in his hometown just a few days later. 'I couldn't believe they were actually playing in Cork at that stage,' he says. He drove the truck from the UK via the Holyhead ferry, but as he arrived at Páirc Uí Chaoimh ahead of schedule, they wouldn't let him into the arena. Wary of leaving a truck full of merchandise parked around the city, McCarthy drove it to the seaside village of Crosshaven. 'When I got there I decided I'd leave it at the carpark at Graball Bay. I didn't even know if it'd fit up the hill but I just about managed it,' he recalls. When he went back later that evening to check everything was ok, there was a big crowd of children gathered around the emblazoned truck. 'There was a big mystery in Cork about where the Gallaghers were staying, and the word had gone around that this was their truck. One of the kids asked me 'Are Liam and Noel coming out to play?' I had to shoo them away.' Oasis merchandise has become an even bigger business since the 1990s. Picture: Lucy North/PA Those two Cork gigs were among the final dealings McCarthy had with Oasis. He has since moved to Sweden, where he teaches English, but regularly returns to the merchandising world for tours with various other bands. He's happy the Gallagher brothers are back together, and realises he was part of something special in the 1990s. 'It's hard to explain people the energy in the UK that the Britpop thing had. Musically, I didn't think it was the greatest, but the energy was phenomenal,' says McCarthy. ' I think at the time, the Indie scene was very middle class. But then along came Oasis. We probably didn't realise we were living in a golden era, but we had the time of our lives.'
