Boxing icon Eric ‘Butterbean’ Esch has lost a stunning amount of weight – but he still can’t turn down a steak dinner.
The heavyweight cult hero once tipped the scales at over 36 stone (515lbs) after hanging up his gloves and was confined to a wheelchair. Sticking to a strict diet and yoga regime remarkably saw Butterbean shed just over 16 stone (220lbs) on his way to getting back in shape.
Butterbean’s body transformation allowed him to undergo hip surgery and call for a comeback fight against YouTube star Jake Paul. His new diet has seen Butterbean cut out plenty of different foods, but the 58-year-old still finds space for one of his favourite meals.
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“I try to stay away from bread and wheat and dairy,” Butterbean said in an interview with AL earlier this year, “I still like a good steak.”
Butterbean has confessed to struggling – mentally and physically – with life away from the boxing ring. The hard-hitting heavyweight retired 11 years ago and felt down and out before linking up with WWE legend Diamond Dallas Page.
“It was just two years ago, and I was in a dark place,” Esch explained. “I had been in a wheelchair for 3 years and I was waiting to die. I was not so sure I would live.
“Thank God for former pro wrestler Diamond Dallas Page. DDP has a program in Atlanta called DDPY (Diamond Dallas Page Yoga). I never thought his program could help a 515-pound man by doing yoga. But DDP helped me buy-in, and he saved my life.”
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(Image: Al Bello/Allsport via Getty Images)
Now weighing 290lbs, the ‘King of the Four Rounders’ is plotting a sensational comeback to the boxing ring and has Paul firmly in his sights. Butterbean has admitted his desire to fight Paul is part of a personal vendetta, but Butterbean will have to wait his turn as the YouTuber prepares to face Tyson on November 15.
“I’d love to fight Jake Paul, but he’s too smart to fight me. I’m being honest,” Esch told Chris Van Vliet last year. “I’m not saying he’s a coward or anything like that, but I would destroy him. I think he knows. I hit way too hard for him.
“He made a statement a while back about me when he said, ‘I’m not like Butterbean; I’m not a joke’. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to fight him. If he thinks I’m a joke, I want to fight him.”