Eric Esch

Eric David Scott Esch (born August 3, 1966), better known by his nickname "Butterbean", is an American retired professional boxer, kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and professional wrestler who competed in the heavyweight division.

Overall, he is a four time World Champion.

He is also a television personality.

Esch began his fighting career on the Toughman Contest scene in Texarkana, Arkansas, in the early 1990s and went on to become a five-time World Toughman Heavyweight Champion with a record of 56–5 with 36 knockouts.

He received the nickname "Butterbean" when he was forced to go on a diet (consisting mostly of chicken and butterbeans) in order to meet the Toughman 400 pound (181 kg) weight limit under the new age trainer Prozay Buell “the better Buell”.

Esch became a professional boxer in 1994 after a successful stint on the Toughman Contest scene and went on to capture the World Athletic Association (WAA) heavyweight and IBA super heavyweight championships.

He made his professional boxing debut on October 15, 1994, beating Tim Daniels by decision in Birmingham, Alabama.

He soon developed a cult following and became known as "King of the 4 Rounders".

Esch ran up a string of wins, mostly by knockout, before being stopped in two rounds by last-minute replacement Mitchell Rose on December 15, 1995.

Rose would later claim that representatives of Top Rank Boxing approached him the night before the fight and offered him five thousand dollars to throw the match.

Esch would then go on to win or draw his next 51 matches (although a number of his wins and draws by decision were considered highly controversial).

His most notable win during that time was against Peter McNeeley.

Esch never defeated an actively ranked heavyweight contender by any of the four major boxing organizations (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO).

In 1997 however, his promoter Bob Arum convinced the International Boxing Association (IBA) to create a title specifically for Esch called, “The IBA Super Heavyweight Championship." In a 1999 interview with the LA Times, Bob Arum explained: “I came up with the idea to make him ‘King of the Four-Rounders’ and got (IBA commissioner) Dean Chance to give him a belt as champion of the nonexistent super heavyweight division.” Esch would occasionally defend the title on the undercards of popular main events. He made six successful defenses before the title was relinquished in 2000. Later that year, the lightly regarded World Athletic Association (WAA) briefly granted him their vacant Heavyweight Title with the same promotional concept, although Butterbean never officially defended the belt.

On December 7, 1997, at the D-Generation X: In Your House pay-per-view event, he defeated former Golden Gloves champion Marc Mero via disqualification in a worked match.

Esch's his five-year streak was brought to an end with a majority decision defeat by heavyweight Billy Zumbrun in August 2001.

The following year, he fought his first ten rounder against fifty-two-year-old former world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia, on July 27.

While Holmes won a unanimous decision, Esch was credited with a controversial knockdown in the final round, which was later shown in filmed replays as not being a knockdown, no punch having landed, and it was a slip; and Holmes only reeled against the ropes.

This was one of only three fights in a 109-fight career that was scheduled for more than four rounds.

From 2003, he regularly fought as a kickboxer and mixed martial artist, notably in K-1 and the Pride Fighting Championships.

Esch's combined fight record is 97–24–5 with 65 knockouts and 9 submissions.

Esch, who is of German descent, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but at age four he and his family moved to St. Johns, Michigan, only to move again at 11 years old to Jasper, Alabama, with his family.

He had a difficult childhood; his mother died when he was eight, and he was frequently bullied at school for being overweight.

While decking floors for manufactured homes at the Southern Energy Homes plant in Addison, Alabama, his colleagues dared him to enter a local Toughman Contest, with training in Bay City, Michigan.

He won the tournament and began his career in fight sports.

Esch ventured into the sport of kickboxing in 2003 when he was recruited by K-1 and debuted with a first-round knockout of Yusuke Fujimoto at K-1 Beast II 2003 in Saitama, Japan on June 29, 2003.

K-1 was then keen to match him up with Ernesto Hoost, but he declined to take the fight on the advice of a friend who warned him of the Dutchman's kickboxing prowess.

He instead faced Mike Bernardo in a non-tournament bout at the K-1 Survival 2003 Japan Grand Prix Final in Yokohama, Japan on September 21, 2003.

He was floored twice with low kicks in the first round before being finished with a high kick in the second.

In his first mixed martial arts bout, Esch took on Genki Sudo in an openweight affair at K-1 PREMIUM 2003 Dynamite!! in Nagoya, Japan, on December 31, 2003.

Despite having a 110 kg weight advantage over his foe, Esch was unable to capitalize as Sudo was unwilling to exchange strikes.

"The Neo-Samurai" took Esch to the mat with a low, single-leg takedown at the end of round one and attempted a leglock only to be halted by the bell signaling the end of the round, which had been a stalemate up until then.

Early in round two, the fighters tumbled to the ground after Sudo attempted a dropkick on Esch, and the Japanese grappling ace took full advantage of the American boxer's lack of grappling skill by securing a heel hook submission at the 0:41 mark.

Returning to the kickboxing ring at K-1 Beast 2004 in Niigata on March 14, 2004, Esch lost a unanimous decision to Hiromi Amada as Amada peppered him with low kicks while Esch did little more than taunt his opponent throughout the match.

He was scheduled to fight Bob Sapp soon afterwards, but claims that Sapp's management withdrew their fighter after discovering that Amada had needed hospital treatment after his bout with Esch.

Butterbean lost his third consecutive K-1 match at K-1 Beast 2004 in Shizuoka on June 26, 2004, losing to 210.82 cm giant Montanha Silva by unanimous decision.

Competing in the eight-man tournament at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Hawaii in Honolulu on July 29, 2005, Esch put an end to his losing streak when he scored a third round standing eight count en route to a unanimous decision victory over 150 kg brawler Marcus Royster in the quarterfinals.

Despite the win, Esch sustained an injury to his left leg during the fight and could not continue and so Royster was entered back into the tournament in his place.

Esch appeared twice in World Wrestling Federation professional wrestling events, competing in boxing matches both times.

Speaking of his popularity in a 2008 interview with BoxingInsider, Esch stated: "It took off pretty quick, my second pro fight was on national TV—it don't happen like that, normally you get 15, 20 fights and then you get a TV fight unless you’re very fortunate. Tyson, his second pro fight wasn’t on TV. He probably had five or six, seven fights before he got on TV. Me, my second pro fight was televised, it was on a Jed Hearns undercard. Then a couple more fights and I’m on TV again, and every fight since then was televised. It just don't happen like that. I've probably had more televised fights than any world champion out there."