Steven Butler aims to show off his progress against Steve Rolls on Thursday
When Steven Butler was stopped in two rounds by WBO middleweight titlist Zhanibek Alimkhanuly last May, the defeat left the Canadian searching for answers.
Having previously come up short against Ryota Murata, Butler wondered if he was good enough. He needed to make changes, and decided to enlist the services of the venerable former fighter turned trainer John Scully.
In their first fight together, Butler stopped seasoned Mexico’s Ivan Alvarez in nine rounds last November, and now Butler hopes to build on that momentum against battle-hardened Steve Rolls at the Montreal Casino, Montreal this coming Thursday.
The 28-year-old Butler left his home base in Montreal, where he has a young family and headed to Hartford, Connecticut to work with Scully, who is known for being part of IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev’s corner.
“I only focus on boxing, I don’t need to take my kids to school or prepare their dinner or other stuff, thank you to my wife because I can’t do that if my wife don’t make it happen,” Butler explained. “There is a lot of sacrifice but I don’t want to look back and say, ‘I don’t know why I didn’t do this or do that.’ I put all the sacrifice for the rest of my career. I like [working with John.]
“The first time I only went for two-months to train with him. He’s a friend of [renowned Canadian trainer] Marc Ramsay, so we have a good reference between two guys I know. That’s the reason I go with him. When [John] saw my style, he said, ‘You have everything to be an elite fighter but we’re going to try to be better at what you’re good at, not just improve when you aren’t as good at.'”
Steven Butler (left) and Steve Rolls (right) – Photo by Vincent Ethier/Eye of The Tiger
Scully decided to start from the beginning and put out of his mind any preconceived notions.
“I pretended he was brand-new, I didn’t worry about anything that happened before,” said the trainer. “I got a feel for him to see what he was like and kind of built off that. I worked on his jab most and being a better and most disciplined boxer because I know from the first day on the mitts everything was very aggressive, everything was rushing, hitting back and going hard. I said, ‘Hey you’ve got to relax, this is a long fight, it’s a long process.’ And he adapted very, very well. I enjoy working with him. It’s fun.
“After a fight, most fighters take time off, they want to get away, eat, etc. The night of the first fight, I told him, ‘You’re going on vacation with your wife but you can’t get way out of shape.’ He said, ‘No, I’m going to run.’ And he did, I didn’t see him for a couple of months and he was in good shape already. He’s way ahead of where we were last time. He’s building up for sure.”
The former two-time middleweight title challenger is focused on the here and now and not looking past what is in front of him.
“My next opponent is Steve Rolls, so I didn’t prepare myself like we prepared together to fight someone else,” Butler (33-4-1, 27 KOs) told The Ring. “We know each other and what he can bring. I need to be at my best to get the victory and I feel comfortable.
“We’re OK, we’re not friends, we do our own thing. For me, it’s a personal fight, he tries to take bread off my table and I have two kids. So, I’m going to do what I need to hurt him and get the victory.”
“It’s important to win this fight because we try to go back to the international level and this is the fight we need to get back,” he said. “I don’t look, I only look at my fight with Steve Rolls, I don’t see past him.
“He’s a tough opponent and I know I need to be focused on him. It’s going to be an explosive fight and everybody is going to be shocked at this fight.”
Rolls (22-3, 12 KOs) won Canadian national titles in 2009 and 2010, and that led him to represent his country at the 2009 World Championships where he reached the quarterfinal stage. He turned professional in 2011 and reeled off 19 consecutive wins, most notably stopping previously unbeaten Steed Woodall (TKO 4) and the more experienced Demond Nicholson (SD 8).
Those wins helped earn him a fight with Gennadiy Golovkin, who stopped him in four rounds. Rolls got back to winning ways and headed to super middleweight where he had a solid performance before losing to Edgar Berlanga (UD 10). He did rebound to beat Roy Jones Jr. protege Shady Gamhour (UD 10) but is coming off a loss to Austin Williams (UD 10) last September.
This is an intriguing crossroads fight for both men with local bragging rights very much on the line. I suspect the younger and naturally bigger punching Butler will have a little more left but will have to work for it and edge home by hard-fought 10-round unanimous decision.
Butler-Rolls will headline the event on ESPN+ in the U.S. at 6:15 p.m. ET/ 3:15 p.m. PT and the card will also be broadcast live on punchinggrace.com.
Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk.
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