The Finnish Butterbean vs. Danny Williams

You both make some reasonable points above. But Butterbean will be best remembered by most as a bit of a joke because of his appearance.

 

Did Butterbean make a lot of money from his fights?

 

On a per round basis he would have done very well

 

^ Good question. I think he must have drawn a lot of viewers, just for the carnival aspect, so right there.. Also, there actually was a short period of time when people actually thought he had a chance to be a serious contender, and he had a lot of TV exposure.

Also, he probably got paid a decent amount when he fought Larry Holmes.

- Who couldn't KO him, BTW. That's how good 'Bean's defense was. He was only KO'd ONCE in his entire career. (Yes, I had to look that up!) 90 fights, 5'11" and at times almost 400 lbs, yet only one guy ever put him down. That's fricking impressive.


won 77 (58 KO) / lost 9 / drawn 4. He must have made at least a few bucks.

 

I've always wondered but never bothered to ask; surly he would have been on at least $10,000 per fight. More for certain fights like Larry Holmes.

Considering how many fights he had, and how short those fights were - that'd be good going. That's pure speculation from me though, could be more (probably was) could be less.

 

I saw the last part of that loss(the TKO loss), he wasn't getting knocked down but was getting a big beating, so the ref stopped the fight.

Larry Holmes was very old though, but it was also the worst style match up for Bean ever.
Holmes had a reach size advantage and had the best jab in the world.(It was still a good jab in the fight too)
If you can keep him on the outside Bean isn't very dangerous, Holmes could do that.

fun thing is that Holmes claimed Bean hit him harder than Shavers (Bull**** because Bean already had trouble connecting his normal shots)
Though if Holmes had been hit clean by a wild right overhand I could have believed it.

Bean would have had a higher chance to win if he had fought Tyson (around 2002)
Would have been a good fight, two brawlers and this is where Bean shines.

[url]http://www.boxinginsider.com/interviews/interview-w-butterbean-eric-esch/[/url]
Interview is worth reading if you got some time to spend.

 

I'm wondering too.

 

Your memory is failing you. Bean was still taking it to Holmes right into the end. Granted, he lost most of the rounds, (one judge actually had it 96-92) but he gave a good showing, tagged Holmes plenty of times, and there was NO stoppage:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRotpnkhvtk[/ame]

 

I wasn't talking about the Holmes fight.
I was talking about his only TKO loss.

 

Ah, sorry. You mentioned Holmes in the next sentence, so..


Anyway, here's good vid of the Bean in action. A true contender? Of course not. - but tell me this guy was a joke, I dare you. Watch his head & body movement. Look at his speed. Check out his combinations. Fawgddaboudit:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yt13sRbefc[/ame]

 

I should have been a bit clearer.
Most of the time my posts lack any kind of order.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsJ9BMfshfQ&feature=related[/ame]

He certainly wasn't a joke to Graham.

 

^ Dayum! I forgot about that fight! Probably one of his best.

- Even George Foreman was impressed.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JtvVXqqAOo[/ame]

The McNeeley fight was also one of his best.