“I guarantee it wont go 10 rounds. I will embarrass Joey so bad he never wants to fight me again. I want to make him quit.” Raphael Butler

Raphael Bulter, Courtesy SnapLocaly.com

I was able to talk with Raphael “The Silencer” Butler last night, and man does he sound ready. I really get the feeling he is more motivated than he has ever been in his career, actually he told me so. We talked about his future goals and his new motivation, his daughter. He also shared that his friendship with Abell should actually make this an even more entertaining fight. Who wants to get beat by a buddy? Butler said some of the greatest fights have come between friends. After talking with Butler, there is no doubt, he has no plans of letting Abell have that one-up. Below is our conversation.

M….Why boxing?

Butler….I found out early on that I was too competitive for team sports. I was always yelling and getting mad. Boxing is the perfect sport for me. My mistake is my mistake, you only have yourself in the ring.

M….Have you always trained under Dan O’Connor?

Butler….Always, he taught me how to fight. I was about 15 when I started the amateurs and turned pro in June of 2004 when I was 20.

M….What has been your biggest moment in boxing to this point?

Butler….Winning the 2004 Golden Glove tournament. That sparked me going pro. It was the first tournament I took seriously. I learned that if I put my all into something nothing could stop me. Before, I had always been told I couldn’t do anything.

M….Where do you see yourself next year at this time?

Butler….If things go to plan, I will be back to where I was a year ago, fighting top 10 guys. I have always felt that I have the talent, but now I also have the drive. The birth of my daughter has given me a new outlook, and more motivation.

M….In one of your radio interviews leading up to this fight I heard you mention that you would like to face Chris Arreola. Any reasons as to why you want to fight him?

Butler….He is just not what boxing is about. He is what those who don’t know boxing think it is. He has a loud mouth and doesn’t respect the sport. I would like to take care of that. The great fighters I have worked with are humble and respectful.

M….How would you describe Joey Abell as a fighter?

Butler….Joey is a decent fighter, he does a good job. I think Joey has a lot to learn. I don’t believe Joey is on my level and I am getting sick of hearing people compare us, I have fought top guys and worked with fighters like Klitschko among others.

M….Do you think Abell possesses world class power?

Butler….He has huge power, maybe more natural power then me. I have only been hit harder by a couple guys, one being klitschko.

M….How would you describe yourself?

Butler….Always learning, I am like a sponge in camp. I take something new from every camp I’m in. I am a well schooled fighter who knows how to adjust once the fight starts.

M….Do you feel like you want this win more than Abell?

Butler….Well, from where I stand he just seems almost like he doesn’t care. I care, I have to do this. Joey has never been where I have, and I have to get back there.

M….What made now the right time for this fight to finally happen?

Butler….We are both at a point in our careers where we need to get things going. A win against the other can do that. I want to shut down all the talk comparing the two of us.

M….Do you have any predictions?

Butler….I guarantee it wont go 10 rounds. I will embarrass Joey so bad he never wants to fight me again. I want to make him quit. I like Joey and we are friends, but this is a sport and I think you want to beat your friends more than any other. You don’t want to have losing to them hanging over your head.

I would like to thank Raphael Butler for taking the time so close to his big showdown to talk with us. Raphael  Butler vs Joey Abell, this Friday night at The Target Center.

Joey Abell wins by TKO in the 3rd round. MinnesotaBoxing.com has a nice recap here.

You can watch the bout at gofightlive.tv

As I have stated before, I feel Joey Abell is on the verge of some big fights. All you need to do is look at the buzz about  today’s heavy’s. And you may be looking for quite a while to find real buzz, in fact you may want to work on a buzz before you undertake such a task. Sure, some are talking about Wladimir Klitschko vs David Haye June 20th, or the out of shape Chris Arreola, but not many boxing enthusiasts are excited with what they are seeing from today’s Heavys. Like the article I posted from thesweetscience.com stated, if you have real power you have a shot in this division. Joey Abell has very real power. On top of his power, he has proven he is not afraid to spend time in the gym, he actually has the body of an athlete and hits hard, very hard. I will be buying this fight tonight knowing that this is all a process to possible big time match-ups. Abell / Arreola has a nice ring to it.

Courtesy Walters Photography, all rights reserved

As I am sure those that have been reading our site would guess, I was absolutely jazzed to be able to sit down with Andy Kolle.  He is definitely a favorite of MNBL. Kaos was more than happy to answer emailed questions from Minnesota boxing fans. Thanks to those that sent in questions. Sorry we were not able to ask him all of them, we also had an interview to conduct. Now to your questions…..

Nathan…. “What is it like going into a fight like the one with Paul Williams?”

Kolle…. “Its one of those things that make you motivate yourself to train like you have never trained before. You know, nobody else wants to fight him. Margarito and Mosely were offered millions and millions of dollars to fight him and wouldn’t. You see him (Williams) on TV and they list him at 6′ 1″, I got in there and it was like, damn, he’s huge. He was bigger than I was.”

M…. “What was the scenery like going into the fight? Were there lots of recognizable boxing people there? Also, what were the differences compared to a Minnesota fight?”

Kolle….“We got there late Sunday night. Monday morning all of the opponents were gathered at 5 AM and we didn’t get back until 8 at night. It was a real rugged day. We had to sit in office and get MRI’s, cat scans, anything you could think of before a fight and elaborate on that. They really ran us, we flew in late and up at 5. That’s one of the things where they don’t treat the opponents, if you want to call us that, the same way as the featured fighters. That kind of stuff gets in your head and then the rest of the week you have to catch up on your sleep. As far as fight night and weigh in stuff, Obviously Paul Williams was there, we also got to see Chris Arreola, James Toney, and William Mccullough, actually Mccullough was staying at the hotel we were at. It was pretty cool to talk with those guys.”

Tarah…. “How many days a week do you train leading up to a fight?”

Kolle….“Its usually about a six day a week thing, I do strength with Adam Daily, we do cattle bells four days a week. Cattle Bells are something kind of new to the USA, they help muscle endurance and strength. You use every muscle in your body. I try to be in the gym 5 or 6 times a week. I’m a firm believer in listening to your body, if your body tells you to take a day off, you listen to it. Rest is just as important as anything else. You hit that wall when your training. Once you hit that wall you need to rest and take a step back and go after it again.”

Miller….“Whats your opinion on why some Duluth fighters tend to get the short end of the stick in discussions of  Minnesota boxing?”

Kolle….“We get it cause we are up here and they are down there. Almost every fighter in the state who has a fan base live down there. Most of those with a voice live and watch those fighters. Just like if you’re in Minnesota, you like the Vikings, if you live in Wisconsin you’re usually a Packer fan. There’s no real reason, just where you live.”

Shane…. “What made you decide to train out of Horton’s gym? What is your opinion on why in some circles Chuck Horton has been given a bad name?” (I would like to say here, I think its sort of the nature of the beast. Success breeds detractors. In the short time I have been running this site, I have observed how harsh fans can be on managers, trainers, and promoters.) Todd 

Kolle….“First of all, Chuck gets negative attention because he is so aggressive. If Chuck thinks something is wrong he means it, its not up for debate. Chuck says what he thinks, that’s one of the reasons I came up here to train. I see how loyal he is to his fighters. I met him as an amateur, and saw just how loyal he was to Zach (Walters). Zach told me about how when he fought Robert Linton in Washington, Chuck had Zach’s back and was ready to go to war for him. In the boxing world there is not a whole lot of loyalty going on. A manager is a manager to get paid by the fighter, promoters do their thing and so on. Its not all about the money for Chuck.  We all have formed a friendship over these years. Friends first, business partners after. I watched Chuck’s fighters, I liked the way they fought. I also loved that he is out of Duluth. Duluth is one of the best places to train, with all the hills for running. Chuck’s boxers had such sharp skills. I watched Zach when he was in Fergus Falls and then saw him after training with Horton. It was obvious how much stronger and quicker he was.”

M…. “Have you noticed a difference in your game since having Chucks influence on you?”

Kolle….“Definitely, I trained in Fergus, we trained hard.  Basically we came to the gym, did push ups, sit ups, ran  3 or 4 miles then sparred. That’s all we did. At the end of practice we  hit pads for a few minutes. Then I moved to Fargo for school and trained in my back yard and garage. You watch my amateur career and now, I have changed so much. I didn’t have the power back then. If you would have told me then that most of my wins would be by knockout, I would have laughed at you. I was all defence and wait until you come at me. Chuck brought out my power.”

Please keep your eyes open for much more from Andy “Kaos” Kolle.

Todd

“You just couldnt let the fans have all the space here, You had your own full interview and still it seems like you asked as many questions as the fans got in. Looks like Todd loves him some Todd.” Bear