The king of the 4 rounders, Eric “Butterbean” Esch joins Boxingtalk and discusses his most recent successful promotional effort.  Bean's Southern Warriors/Butterbean Inc put together a sold out show at The Hard Rock Cafe, in Biloxi, Mississippi.  The big 395 pounder makes one thing clear in this interview, he wants a crack at rising EliteXC star Kimbo Slice. 


BT – What's up Bean?

EE – Doing good Brad, what's up?

BT – Talk about the big card you put together in Biloxi last weekend.

EE – The Hard Rock Cafe treated us great, and the place is absolutely beautiful.  What a great venue to put a show on.

BT – The place was sold out, they got to see you and your son Caleb in some MMA action as well.

EE – I popped my head out and watch the fights when I could.  I knew most of the guys on the card, so I knew they were all tough guys.  Southern fighters are tough, sometimes they  may lack in some skill, but they got the power and the determination to keep going.  Caleb my son pulled out a victory.  He told me that if he was in better shape he would have taken it to him more.  He's in football football season so he's working on that too.

BT – I heard that there are some pretty big southern schools interested in Caleb for football.

EE – There is Southern Mississippi, and Samford University here in Birmingham that are looking at him.  Whoever gets him will get a star, he had 182 tackles last year.

BT – You fought on the card as well, talk about your performance.

EE – It took 28 seconds and it was over.  I rocked him with the first punch, and he was over after that.

BT – I noticed that when you knocked the guy down, you had a few seconds of a lull, you didn't do anything.

EE – Well I forgot it was an MMA fight, I was asking myself why the referee wasn't counting (laughs), I said  “oh no” so I jumped on him and finished him off.

BT – You had Herb Dean as the card referee, he was signing just as many autographs as you were.

EE – Herb is a great guy, and he's very well respected in the MMA world.  It was a pleasure having him work the card.

BT – Another treat for the fans was the appearance of the internationally known rock band 3 Doors Down.  Those guys love MMA and boxing don't they?

EE – Todd from 3 Doors Down loves MMA, so he snuck on in and enjoyed the fights.  It was nice to have the guys at the show.

BT – You have made it known that you want a crack at Kimbo Slice, do you think that fight will happen?

EE – I would love to fight Kimbo Slice, a good friend of mine is training him.  I would love to fight him, Kimbo came out and stood up with Tank Abbott and knocked him out, but he wouldn't do that with me.  It would be a heck of a fight, but I would knock out Kimbo Slice before the fight got too far though.

BT – Do you think Kimbo has the power to knock you down?

EE – Well I don't know, but from what I seen against Tank Abbott he doesn't have the power to knock me out.  MMA guys don't hit as hard as full fledged boxers do.  Kimbo don't hit nowhere's near as hard I do.

BT – Will you knock out Kimbo Slice?

EE – Without a doubt.

BT-  What needs to happen for you to get this fight?

EE – His people need to say, “Butterbean, do you want to fight Kimbo?” and BAM it's done.

BT – Would it matter where the fight venue was?

EE – I got a backyard, come on Kimbo it doesn't matter to me.

BT – You started your own promotional company, Southern Warriors/Butterbean Inc.  How busy do you plan on being in 2008?

EE – Yes I'm working on a lot of fights.  I'm working on 2 different cards now, a card for the winner to fight for a new car.  I am also working on a card that will square off northern fighters vs southern fighters.

BT – Has MMA excited you to stay in the fight game longer?

EE – If I box 2 times a year I am happy.  Other than that I want to do MMA.  I am promoting MMA, and it's about time to settle down and promote full time here pretty soon.  I love doing what I am doing.

BT – Do you have any closing thoughts for the fans?

EE – Hey Kimbo Slice, I got a backyard.  I even got a side yard that we can put people in to watch the fight.  If you want to do it from the yard, we'll do it there.  PPV from Bean's backyard.  I'll go to his yard too, I don't care.  Here's a headline, BEAN KNOCKS OUT KIMBO IN THE BACK YARD!

M

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