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Earl Butler,
full name Junior Earl Butler,
also known as just JEB, was the
epitome of a true fighter. From
Super Middleweight, where he won
the World Boxing Federation
(WBF) world title in 1997, to
Cruiserweight, he was willing to
take on anyone, anywhere!
Butler grew up in Saint
Martinsville, Louisiana where he
was born on June 13, 1967. He
started boxing in his teens, and
won several Golden Gloves
tournaments during a successful
amateur career, earning the
nickname “Sweetness”.
A natural athlete, he also
explored other sports in his
youth, competing in track &
field and American Football
during his years of attending
Navarro College in Texas, but he
returned to boxing under the
guidance of his college English
professor.
In 1990, at the age of
twenty-three, Butler turned
professional, and made his paid
debut at Light Heavyweight on a
small show at the Riverside
Resort & Casino in Laughlin,
Nevada on October 10. He got off
to a decent start, beating
fellow first-timer Mel Avery on
points over four rounds.
The Riverside became a second
home to Butler, as seven of his
first eight bouts took place
there. While not against
frightening opposition, four of
those eight bouts were main
event fights, and by the end of
1991 “Sweetness” was 8-0 (4) and
starting to make a name for
himself.
But 1992 would be a bad year in
the ring for Butler. On January
21 be boxed on a show at the
Union Plaza Casino in Las Vegas,
also featuring big names Michael
Dokes, Tom Johsnon and Jeff
Mayweather, and lost on points
in his first real step-up
against Brent Kosolofski (8-1).
In June he gained his only
victory of the year, stopping
Barry Basler (10-15-1) in eight,
but in September and October he
came up short again against 1988
Olympian Anthony Hembrick
(23-3-1) and Daniel Perez
(10-2), who three years later
challenged Nigel Benn for the
WBC World Super Middleweight
crown.
1993 was much better, but not
ideal, with victories over Randy
Smith (25-25-1), Cecil McKenzie
(6-1), Terry Bee (7-0) and Jeff
Medley (4-4), but he also
suffered a devastating first
round stoppage defeat at the
hands of McKenzie in a rematch.
He entered 1994 with a 13-4 (5)
record, and, while he won his
first fight of that year,
stopping a debutant called Cleo
Taylor in two rounds, he soon
found himself in the role of
being “the opponent”. At this
point, very few would bet money
on Earl Butler as a future world
champion.
On April 19, 1994 Butler took on
Canada´s 1988 Olympic silver
medalist Egerton Marcus (12-0)
at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas,
losing a unanimous decision for
the North American Boxing
Federation (NABF) Light
Heavyweight title.
Losing to Marcus was no
disgrace, and it was a decent
enough performance, but seven
months on he traveled to Denmark
and was stopped in one round by
future European Champion Ole
Klemetsen (16-1) from Norway.
In January and February of 1995
Butler had to settle for draws
against opponents he on paper
should have beat easily in
Armando Campas (1-12) and
Augustine Renteria (7-11-2).
It should however be mentioned
that the Campas-draw was a
technical one due to injury, and
Renterie was a much better
fighter than his
less-than-stellar record
suggests, and known for his
ability to score upset-victories
against heavy favorites.
Ironically, going 0-2-2 in four
outings somehow landed Butler
two of his biggest fights.
June 13, 1995, in a Tuesday
Night Fights main event
televised live by the USA
Network, Butler fought former
WBA World Super Middleweight
Champion Michael Nunn (43-3) in
Moline, Illinois. Nunn won a
unanimous decision over ten
rounds, but considering his
recent results it was a moral
victory for Butler.
The good performance against
Nunn secured Butler another huge
opportunity, this time at
Cruiserweight, against living
legend Thomas Hearns (54-4-1), a
former Welterweight, Super
Welterweight, Middleweight,
Super Middleweight and Light
Heavyweight World Champion.
Unfortunately Hearns was much
more comfortable at
Cruiserweight than Butler, and
obviously still a very skilled
fighter. On September 26, 1995
at The Palace in Auburn Hills,
Hearns knocked Butler down
twice, but “JEB” proved his
mettle and went the full
ten-round distance.
Six weeks later, Butler finally
returned to winning ways,
beating no-hoper Eriberto Valdez
(1-14) in four rounds. In March
of 1996 he was likely picked as
merely a decent name to beat for
fringe contender Rocky Gannon
(24-4), but Butler had other
ideas and won by split decision.
Besides coming off a victory
over Thomas Tate (30-3), Gannon
went on to win IBC and IBA world
titles in his next two fights,
beating good opponents Richard
Hall (17-0) and Undra White
(16-4), so he turned out to be a
significant scalp on Butler´s
resume.
Doing well against Nunn and
Hearns, and defeating Gannon,
had enhanced the standing of
Butler, despite his record at
the time being a mediocre 16-8-2
(7), and lined him up for
another crack at one of the
sports iconic names.
On May 14, 1995 he challenged
the great James Toney (50-2-2)
for the WBU World Light
Heavyweight title, but had to
accept defeat in the fourth
round. Toney, one of the best
pure boxers in history, was
simply too much for him to
handle, as he would be for
almost anyone.
Losing to Toney wasn't the end
of the world for Butler, and he
didn't allow it to slow down the
momentum he had gained prior to
that fight. In fact, he was now
a big enough name that in his
next fight he headlined at The
Aladdin in Las Vegas, and this
time as “The A Side”.
Future IBF World Champion Steve
Forbes, former IBO World
Champion Jeff Mayweather and
former WBC World Champion Lonnie
Smith were all part of the
supporting cast when Earl Butler
fought Clarence White (17-7) for
the vacant WBF World Super
Middleweight title on February
13, 1997.
And “Sweetness” was indeed sweet
that night, as Butler boxed
wonderfully for twelve rounds to
secure a unanimous decision
(117-111, 116-112, 116-112) over
the tough White, and finally
fulfill his dream of becoming
champion of the world.
Butler stayed busy in the
remainder of 1997 with two wins
over journeyman Thomas Covington
(5-23-1). The first one a rather
disappointing narrow majority
decision over eight rounds, but
the rematch was won conclusively
in the first round.
After the second Convington
bout, Butler would not fight for
two full years, and he had been
stripped of his world title when
he returned on August 30, 1999
against Light Heavyweight
contender Derrick Harmon (18-1)
and lost on points in an
eight-rounder.
His prime clearly over, Butler
only won one more fight, in
September of 2000, capturing the
Arizona State Light Heavyweight
title by out-scoring Anthony
Brown (16-8-1). But, as a former
world champion, he was still
very serviceable, and continued
to get big fights a little
longer.
So, before retiring in 2001 he
lost fights to former IBF World
Light Heavyweight Champion
Reggie Johnson (39-6-1),
reigning IBF World Cruiserweight
Champion Vassily Jirov (25-0) in
a non-title bout, and former WBA
World Light Heavyweight ruler
Lou Del Valle (29-2).
In retirement, Butler started
something he calls JEB
Boxercise, a training program
for children and adults, and
also took work as a personal
trainer for professional
Basketball and Football players.
In 2006, almost thirty-nine
years old and more than five
years after the Del Valle fight,
Butler made an ill-advised
comeback at Heavyweight, and
jumped in too deep against
hard-hitting southpaw Eric
Kirkland (17-2). Butler was
knocked out in two rounds, and
never boxed again.
His final record stands at
20-14-2 (8), but he was so much
better than those statistics
suggest. And how many can claim
to have been a world champion,
and shared a ring with legends
such as Nunn, Hearns and Toney?
Butler currently lives in Tempe,
Arizona with wife Shawni and
still runs the JEB Boxercise
project, along with a clothing
brand called #watdaworld. Both
of his sons, Emmanuel and
Isaiah, have inherited their
fathers athleticism and are very
talented American Football
players.
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