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Is Kimbo the Next Butterbean?

That's what John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News thinks :

In the late 1990s, the boxing community unveiled a cartoonish giant named Eric Esch - "Butterbean." A big galoot with no formal training, he got his break via the old bar-brawl contest known as the Toughman series. He was The Next Big Thing.

Except he wasn't, and the farce played a large role in boxing's decline.

Saturday night on CBS, mixed martial arts will unveil a cartoonish giant named Kimbo Slice (actual name Kevin Ferguson, which we'll probably never hear again). Like Butterbean, he is a big galoot with no formal training; his fame derives from street brawls that captured a cult following on YouTube. He is The Next Big Thing.

Instead of being a sign of the downfall, though, Kimbo Slice is the headliner of MMA's long-awaited, much-debated entry into mainstream America.

Times, and sports, have changed.

0 recs  |  Comment 11 comments

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...the farce played a large role in boxing’s decline

Err umm … huh?

How large a roll did Butterbean play in boxings decline? In my most humble of opinions, the reason I don’t watch boxing is because every time I have tried, I get really really bored of the “punch – hug – break” for twelve rounds. Butterbean, if he had any impact, made the sport interesting for a few minutes.

by mythbuster on May 30, 2008 6:43 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Is this guy f'real?

John Ryan seems to be losing his mind to both boxing and MMA because nothing he stated in that snipet is true. Is he on the bottle or something? This bigotry behavior towards Kimbo is ridiculous.

"Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of education. "
-Victor Hugo

by Chonbody on May 30, 2008 6:52 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

If only “training every day with Bas Rutten” was actually the same as “no formal training”. I could afford to do it myself, then.

by AJB on May 30, 2008 7:03 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Jesus...

Butterbean played no role in boxing’s decline. Unless I’m forgetting something he never headlined a single card. He was an “attraction” on a few cards but no one took him seriously. He was just a big fat guy who beat up other big fat guys in 4 rounders.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

"The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls and looking like hard work." -- Thomas Edison

by Brent Brookhouse on May 30, 2008 7:23 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

George Michaels used to love to feature him on the sports machine if that means anything. He sort of was just and attraction, but then he got himself involved in fixing fights and was basicly kicked out of boxing. At that point it was a final blow to a downed institution. Tyson could have done a lot to bring it back, but he bit an ear instead.

by szucconi on May 30, 2008 7:49 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Yeah...

...but at the same time I don’t think that anyone really was shocked or disillusioned by that. “Oh my god! BUTTERBEAN FIGHTS WEREN’T ON THE UP AND UP?!” Know what I’m saying?

If the sport got to the point where what butterbean was doing mattered then the sport was in trouble anyway.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

"The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls and looking like hard work." -- Thomas Edison

by Brent Brookhouse on May 30, 2008 8:33 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Strongly agree.

by szucconi on May 30, 2008 8:42 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

If I were to put a positive spin on the article ...

At least the last two sentences of your excerpt were true.

Thank you Mainstream Media! Without your fact-checking, journalistic integrity and professional editorial oversight, we’d be left with nothing but uninformed and biased rants!

The rest of the article was in need of an editor though.

by asa on May 30, 2008 8:36 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

wow

A new cake-taker. Butterbean to blame in any way for boxing’s decline (which is preposterous) and thought by anyone on the planet who wasn’t demented to be the “Next Big Thing” in the sport (which is ludicrous) and Kimbo without formal training. That big galoot!

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on May 30, 2008 10:26 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Yes, but ...

I agree with the point that this article is abundantly stupid in many of its conclusions, for all of the reasons listed above. But I think there’s the germ of a good point here. The comparison is that Butterbean was a freakshow, and Kimbo AKA Kevin is very much being marketed as a freakshow. Just as Butterbean made the sweet science resemble a glorified Tough Man contest, so too is Kimbo dragging the sport of MMA back into the dark ages of one punch knockouts of inferior opponents just to satisfy the bloodlust of uneducated fans. (We all saw how effective Butterbean was as MMA.)

And for those who decry the “racism” of Kimbo haters-isn’t there a certain amount of racism in the marketing of this man? His resume is a bunch of YouTube clips of streetfights that ended badly for those foolish enough to take the bait. “Kimbo Slice” sounds like something out of a blaxploitation film. People said he looked like a gorilla on the front of ESPN Magazine because he did-the editors and his handlers made him look that way—it’s part of the marketing.

Believe it or not, I’m actually looking forward to the Slice fight tonight (and rooting for him—gong and dash is like feeding a log into the woodchipper). But I do find it a little annoying that Kimbo Slice got on the cover of a major American sports magazine and is headlining national TV’s first live MMA event before Georges St. Pierre, B.J. Penn, and any number of great MMA veterans who have truly advanced the science of the sport got the same opportunity.

My two cents.

by thetakeover on May 31, 2008 3:41 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Uhh...

I could be wrong, but I think the gist was that the same kind of thinking that lead to Butterbean also lead to boxing’s decline (via other goofy marketing ideas and mistakes). Not that Butterbean himself was a sport destroying godzilla.

For a pro journalist, though, that guy is payed to be a little more clear than that, I think. But mainly, I just wanted to say how wrong it is that I see Butterbean and Kaitlin Young looking like the sexiest woman on the planet in the same browser window. Just… soo wrong…

by swarmofkillermonkeys on May 31, 2008 4:14 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

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