Radzhab Yusupovich "The Python" Butaev

Who the hell is this????

I mean, I've heard the name before, dating to his amateur days (and later from his being slotted into the José Sulaimán welterweight Invitational tourney, but withdrawing before the quarterfinals even began w/ an injury), and have known he was supposed to be pretty good but have somehow managed to never catch him since his pro debut. I didn't realize he was a straight-up MONSTER!

He knocked out Lanardo "Pain Server" Tyner in three rounds tonight on a non-televised card in Hanover, MD (headlined by a match between Demond Nicholson and Jessie Nicklow for the Maryland super middleweight title), which caught my attention while surfing BoxRec to browse the night's results...because, as everyone knows, I rate Tyner quite highly in his capacity as teak-tough journeyman extraordinaire. I did some digging and discover that Butaev went 453-9 in the amateurs with over a third of his victories coming via RSC??? That is a bat-shit crazy record and KO percentage for the ams. He also went 9-1 in the semi-pros (WSB).

Tyner is what I'd consider his first real step up in class professionally - despite having a superficially uglier record on paper than some past opponents - and he aced his test with flying colors. Tyner has only been stopped once before in his 15 year campaign, has fought a TON of good fighters, and until as recently as last year was showing very good form on film.

Where have you guys been hiding this deadly Python??? And why the hell was he brought along so damn slowly until now?

@CST80 @Serge @Vysotskyy @mirkofilipovic @Chuck Wepner

 

This content is protected

 

This content is protected

WHOA. That power is bu-nanners.

 

Tyner retired immediately following the brutal loss, apparently.

This content is protected

To his credit, he wasn't actually knocked out cold. But the ref saved him from possible brain damage there.

 

Honestly if this had come to my attention earlier I would have picked Tyner for the upset just based on how padded Butaev's prior record has been, and how little hoopla there has been around him.

(except from Lou DiBella himself, but he is always hyperbolic about his signings..)

 

BJS vs. Lemieux undercard in late '17, yeah. Bang-Bang is a legit puncher, though.

 

I looked through your RBR for Butaev vs. González after posting the OP an hour or so ago...sounds like it was a fairly pedestrian and not very eye-catching night at the office, which explains why you never made a spotlight thread on him if that was your first impression.

Janer González might've been 19-0 heading into that match, but that W column was insanely padded, as far as I'm concerned Butaev fought nothing but rubbish until this evening.

 

Whoops, that was supposed to be @Chuck Norris tagged in the OP ..


Who the hell is Chuck Wepner?

 

Been a hell of a rollercoaster since I first made this in 2019.

He is 5-1-0-1 in the nearly seven years since he fought Tyner (who later unretired and has gone 0-2-0-1 himself in the interim).

A showdown in November of that same year with fellow unbeaten U.S. based Russian prospect, southpaw Alexander Alexandrovich Besputin, was originally a robbery UD in Besputin's favor but later overturned into a NC when Besputin failed multiple drug tests. Butaev then fought once per year from 2020 until 2024. He stopped a couple of decent opponents in Terry Chatwood and Jamal "Shango" James during the pandemic years. Then he suffered his first legitimate defeat, via SD, to Eimantas Stanionis in 2022. A successful comeback started with a rebound stoppage over Fazliddin Hasanboyevich Goibnazarov in 2023 - but the Python then inexplicably squandered that momentum and sat on the shelf for over two years.

Today he returned unceremoniously on an obscure card in Tashkent, with no international broadcast coverage. He was supposed to face Congolese journeyman Mardochee "Baja" Kuvesa Katembo, but wound up facing Ukrainian-Russian professional loser Artem Vladimirovich Pugach as same-day replacement. Butaev settled for a wide UD with scorecards of 80-72, 79-73 and 78-74 ...but that's no great shame as Pugach is a reliable distance-laster, now 3-13-4 and only ever stopped once.

Whoever is managing/promoting him needs to do a MUCH better job by him, as his prime is fizzling away. I'm not even sure that is still Lou DiBella, by the way, as Butaev isn't listed on DBE's roster (while several deceased or retired boxers are) on their website:
https://dbe1.com/fighters/

He'll be 32 next month. There is still a window for him to be a force at either welter or light middle, but he needs to stay busy and preferably in meaningful competitive bouts. It would be a shame to squander his perseverance through multiple setbacks (the Besputin robbery, the Stanionis loss, and the multi-year layoff) without some kind of payoff.