Steven Butler’s decision to leave Quebec and settle in Massachusetts was carefully considered and he has his family to thank.
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“I took a three-month vacation and traveled to the Dominican Republic with my wife and children. We left for a month and stayed for another two months. We went to Disney in Florida for two weeks, then she returned home with the children and I stayed in the USA,” says the boxer from the Saint-Michel district.
“She is a golden woman, she is in school to become a social worker, she has her own school and that of the children. I don’t want to be in his pants.”
“I certainly wouldn’t have been able to go without his permission. They come to me two to three days every three weeks. “I definitely miss my family and it’s harder in training camp because we see each other less.”
Indefinite period of time
Butler hasn’t decided how long he’ll stay south of the border, but it could be a long time because he’ll find something there that was missing from his training in Montreal.
“I’m here indefinitely. If everything goes as planned, I will stay here for the rest of my career. In Montreal all my training partners are friends, it’s a bit too respectful, we hug each other when we arrive at the gym.
Things are completely different in his new life, in which he has to make a name for himself because no one knows him.
“Here, during my first sparring session, I came into the opponent’s gym, they were staring at me, they wanted to kill me. Afterwards they wanted to take photos with me, I think they didn’t expect me to be so good.
Like hockey
Massachusetts is a cradle of American boxing. After all, this is the state that gave us boxers like Rocky Marciano, Marvin Hagler, John Ruiz, John L. Sullivan and Micky Ward.
“Here in sparring it’s the same feeling as in a fight,” says Butler, explaining the level of emotion and intensity that boxers put into training.
“Boxing here is a bit like hockey in Montreal. There’s boxing all day long.”