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Berry “Killa Bee” Butler recovered well from a first round knockdown (which could have been ruled a slip) to come back and drop Sam Reese several times in the second round with uppercuts and dominate the remainder of the fight. Berry said his right hand seemed to have a radar on it tonight, he could not miss with it. He also gives credit to Sam Reese for being a tough and crafty southpaw who fought back well and had his moments in the fight.
The judges gave Berry Butler a unanimous 8 round decision by scores of 78-70, 78-71, and 77-72 as he advances to the second round of the IBA Light Heavyweight Tournament. Berry said that the Florida press were especially impressed by his awesome display of power. The fights, which took place at the Gulfstream Park Casino, will be televised on Comcast Sports South at a later date. The fight will be shown on csssports.com on Monday, December 18th at 9:00pm
This fight marks Berry Butler’s tenth win in a row and raises his record to 22-12 with 18 KOs. Most boxing insiders consider Berry the favorite in the Tournament. Sam Reese, despite a courageous effort, drops to 22-16-4 with 8KOs. Reese had his moments scoring a knockdown in the first round and landing some solid straight lefts in the fourth round.
Florida-based Danny Santiago appears to have received a hometown decision over Marlon Hayes (one of Berry Butler’s recent knockout victims). Many in attendence felt Hayes deserved the nod and there was some controversey surrounding the allowance for Santiago to come in at over 180 pounds for this fight. Considering Pat Burns is promoting this tournament and training Santiago, Danny’s excuse that he did not know he was supposed to come in at around 175, did not sit well with the other fighters or the press in attendence.
The next round of the IBA Tournament will feature Berry Butler against Danny Santiago with the winner advancing to the finals. Based on these two performances, Butler would have to be considered the favorite in this one.
