Brawl put boxing’s ugly side on display
Fans hurl chairs, bottles at Ontario fighter who beat hometown favourite
There will be professional boxing in Montreal in the future, no doubt. And super-welterweight prospect Steven Butler will live to fight another day, following the first defeat of his career.
But everything that’s ugly and brutal about this sport — and the thousands of fans who have supported it in this city throughout the decades — came together in one fractious and deplorable instant late Saturday night at the Bell Centre.
It began with a thunderous overhand right that Ontario’s Brandon Cook landed at the end of the seventh round, sending a reeling Butler to the canvas. Butler, from Montreal, had been hurt in the sixth, survived, and beat the count a round later, appearing as though he could have continued.
Instead, referee Marlon B. Wright, a former pro boxer himself and a veteran official, waved his arms, signifying the fight’s conclusion and giving Cook a technical knockout.
And then, bedlam. Debris was immediately hurled toward the ring, including bottles of alcohol and Gatorade by spectators who already had been sufficiently lubricated for hours. Cook was hit in the head with a metal ice bucket as Butler, who obviously lacks class, dignity and maturity, shoved him. Fights broke out on the floor, chairs were thrown and tables overturned. The situation quickly deteriorated as Bell Centre security personnel scurried about.
Police were quickly dispatched to the scene. At last count, five were injured, including a female spectator at ringside who was struck in the head by a bottle of vodka. All the injuries were considered minor. Two people were arrested.
“It was disgusting. That’s not something that’s part of sports. It’s unacceptable,” said Camille Estephan, Butler’s promoter and manager. “I really wish I was sitting here, celebrating with you the win. Everything else was perfect. The crowd was into it. Everybody was talking about it. There were passionate fans on both sides.”
Estephan originally announced Cook, along with his trainer and promoter, had left the building for security reasons. But moments later, they all appeared. Cook was wearing sunglasses, his forehead a red mess of welts and cuts — the result of punches, perhaps some head-butts and, undoubtedly, the foreign objects being hurled his way.
He wanted to bask in the biggest victory of his career, one that propelled his record to 18-0 with 11 knockouts. But given the circumstances, of course, he couldn’t.
“Someone hit me in the back of the head with a bottle. It was definitely a bottle. I felt it. I know it cracked on the back of my head,” said the 30-year-old Cook, who lives and trains in Ajax, north of Toronto, and still holds down a full-time day job, installing doors and windows.
“For something like that to happen after a fight like that, obviously, it’s classless,” Cook continued. “People got upset because their boy got beat up. I understand that ... but that shouldn’t happen in boxing. It’s ridiculous and not fair. I came here to fight. I would never come back here and fight him again because of what happened.”
Butler, now 18-1-1, had 15 knockouts to his credit, most of them early, and never had fought beyond the ninth round. He had height and reach on his side, not to mention the majority of the 5,600 spectators in attendance.
And he was in control through four rounds, winning each of them on all three judges’ scorecards before losing the fifth and sixth. That meant all three — Gail Jasper, Pasquale Procopio and Craig Smith — had Butler ahead, 58-56, going into the seventh, which Cook would have won, 10-8, had the bout proceeded to the eighth round. Butler didn’t appear at the post-fight news conference.
Estephan said Butler suffered a nose injury — the speculation was it had been fractured — in training, but it proved to be a non-factor. Estephan had no qualms with the referee’s decision, and said he believes Butler succumbed to a lack of energy.
“He was winning the fight. He won most rounds but lacked energy. I don’t know why,” Estephan said. “Was it a matter of Cook working the body very well? He’s a young guy that doesn’t have the physical maturity to endure very high levels. Maybe it was the pressure? The crowd? All this emotion that took out some energy?
“We don’t know at this stage, but it was clear Steven belonged in that ring.”
If Butler had speed on his side, it was clear Cook was the more powerful of the two and wanted the bout to deteriorate into a street fight.
And when it was determined on Friday the two would use eightounce gloves, as stipulated by the body that oversees the sport in Quebec — and not 10 ounces as Cook was expecting, Butler would feel the intensity of the blows even more.
“I know how hard I hit. When I hit somebody with my big shot, I don’t care who you are,” said Cook, who retained his WBA North American title while capturing Butler’s IBF version.
“I’ve never fought with eightounce gloves before. It was a big difference, I think. With 10-ounce gloves I hurt people.”
Highlighting the undercard was Trois-Rivières heavyweight Simon Kean’s unanimous eightround decision over American Avery Gibson.
Kean improved to 8-0, but went the distance for the first time in his career.