Eric "Butterbean" Esch has been in the news these past couple weeks. In the wake of his shocking victory over Anthony Joshua, Internet trolls compared Andy Ruiz Jr. to the legendarily tough, yet heavily overweight Butterbean. It's hard to find a bigger character in the history of boxing than Butterbean. We explore his "toughman" roots, Sega Genesis covers, Wrestlemania appearances and epic showdowns with Johnny Knoxville. The man fought Larry Holmes in his final professional bout in 2002 and TKO'd Peter McNeeley before that. It's time to take a complete and total look at Butterbean and explore what his legacy means to boxing.

While reading about the New England Golden Gloves tournament held every year in Lowell, Mass., (the home of "Irish" Micky Ward) our host discovers a true character Harold Reitman, M.D. Dr. Reitman won the heavyweight division of this tournament in the early 1970s but turned down a pro boxing contract to instead finish medical school in Boston.

 

Amazingly, "Hurricane" Peter McNeeley would fight Dr. Reitman in 1995 just two bouts after mixing it up with Mike Tyson. While discussing Dr. Reitman's unique life and journey we also learn about some of the legends of the New England Golden Gloves tournament including Micky Ward, Dickey Eklund and the late, great Ralph Lally.

In this special “State of Boxing” episode of Characters of Boxing, our host sounds off on the state of heavyweight championship boxing as he begins to gear up for his June 1 trip to Madison Square Garden for the Anthony Joshua bout.

 

As the days tick down to the Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. fight he compares the current state of heavyweight championship boxing to the days of  “jobbers vs superstars” in the old World Wrestling Federation (now WWE). Follow us on Twitter @ClearContender to send us your feedback!

The "Fighting Pride" of Malden, Massachusetts is profiled on this new episode of the Characters of Boxing (And Beyond) Podcast. While exploring the rich fighting history of Rosenblatt we learn about more characters that were directly (and indirectly) impacted by his stout career inside the ring. These fighters include Vinny Pazienza and the late, great Howard Davis Jr. Casey (your host of the podcast) brings on his girlfriend, Saroyah, to share her thoughts and we explore her family's connections to mid-century prizefighting in the United States. Casey explores the unique Pazienza-Rosenblatt rivalry in-depth and what it meant to fight fans in southern New England. Rosenblatt is a young "character" at just 47 years old, and has made a second career for himself away from the ring in the world of business and finance. Learn about a fighter that truly has his priorities in the right place and found a way to navigate the (often times difficult and unforgiving) boxing landscape and walk away without ever looking back.

He's back in the news. The original "Jersey Shore" character is profiled on this first in-depth exploration on the Characters of Boxing (And Beyond) Podcast. We look at this rise of Paulie Malignaggi's career and how he got to where he is today as both a top Showtime Boxing analyst and a bare knuckle fighter. Paulie has been scuffling and having a lot of back-and-forth with MMA fighter Artem Lobov. As we know, Lobov has a close connection with legendary UFC fighter Conor McGregor. Could there be a possibility that Paulie is utilizing the media as a way to get to Conor for a massive pay day and return to the boxing ring? In the meantime he's busy prepping for a June 6 Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) bout as a way to regain relevance as a fighter. Paulie is definitely a character as he proves he's still hungry to be a world champion in the ring despite being the top fight analyst in boxing (as part of Showtime's production team). He still has an itch to scratch and we explore his career and how he got to where he's at tonight in this latest installment of the Character's of Boxing (Beyond) Podcast.