The famous heavyweight boxer Butterbean retired from boxing in 2013 at the age of 47. But the news is that Butterbean has made up his mind to return to rings after losing a lot of weight & fighting depression. At the age of 55 years, the boxer Butterbean whose real name is Erich Esch is calling out Mike Tyson & Jake Paul for a fight. After his retirement, former knock-out champion Butterbean gained a lot of weight and he was weighing 500 pounds at the highest. He had a dark battle with weight gain & depression. After coming out of the darkest phase of his life & saving his life from excessive weight gain, Butterbean is ready to fight again.
But here the amazing and inspirational thing here is that the person is fighting off his weight gain, losing excess weight, becoming healthy again & challenging the world’s top boxers & his previous competitors. Everyone wants to know how Butterbean lost so much weight, which diet, and what workout routine he followed in order to lose weight. Here are the full details about Butterbean weight loss.
But Before I walk you through Butterbean’s weight loss & transformation journey, you should know the details about his personal life and why he gained weight.
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Who Is Butterbean?
Butterbean’s real-life name is Eric Scott Esch. He was born on 3rd August 1966 in Atlanta, Georgia. Until his latest announcement of rejoining the boxing ring, Butterbean was a retired American professional boxer. He was also a kickboxer, mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, and TV personality.
Eric Esch AKA Butterbean didn’t have a smooth childhood. Born in Atlanta and his family moved to Michigan when he was 4 and again they moved to Alabama when he was 11 years old. In between when he was just 8 years old, his mother died. Butterbean was a target of contact abuse & bullying in his childhood for being overweight.
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Butterbean was working for Addison, Alabama-based manufactured homes company Southern Energy Homes plant. He was decking floors for the company but his life took a turn when a co-worker gave him the challenge to enter & fight in a local Toughman Contest. Toughman Contest is one of the biggest boxing series in the US. Later Butterbean started training in Michigan and with his dedication & hard work, he won the tournament & made up his mind to pursue fighting sport as a career. Eric Esch (Butterbean) started his career with Toughman Contest in the 1990s and later Butterbean became a five-time World Toughman Heavyweight Champion.
Eric Esch also gained his nickname as BUTTERBEAN at the Toughman Contest. In order to meet Toughman’s 400-pound weight limit, Eric was forced to go on a diet that mostly included chicken & butterbeans. And that’s how he gained his famous professional nickname name.
Butterbean Weight Gain
Butterbean was a champion in his field. But after his retirement, his life went into a dark phase. In his interview with The Sun, he told that he was at the stage where he was looking at the end of his life. Eric further added that in that dark phase of his life, he was getting down. He was overweight & just feeling down. He had constant questions in his mind about whether he had years to live or not.
In those difficult times, Butterbean was at the heaviest weight in his life. He was weighing around 500 Lbs.
Butterbean Weight Loss
In his life’s dark phase, he got an opportunity to fight back against his excess weight. He got a chance to work on a reality show with DDP (Diamond Dallas Page). Butterbean accepted the challenge to work in the docuseries named Change or Die.
Butterbean in the same interview told that he has been working on the show and is here for the past four months. And this opportunity changed things for him. He confessed that this opportunity has given him more energy and life since he was fighting regularly. Butterbean also told that he is in the best shape at the current time throughout his whole life. And his weight is lowest right now than ever before. Butterbean has never fought a match at his current weight level ever in his life.
How Butterbean Lost Weight?
It was a tough journey for Butterbean to lose weight after battling depression. But an opportunity to work in the reality TV show with DDP changed his perspective & life. According to the report published in Mirror, this reality TV show helped him with weight loss. This TV documentary that Butterbean is taking part in is all about celebrities losing weight. In the show, DDP helps overweight celebrities in losing weight with his famous DDP Yoga Programme.
Butterbean officially has not confirmed any number of pounds that he has lost using the DDP Yoga program. But he was weighing 500 pounds before he joined the program & it was the highest ever weight of his life. And Butterbean has confirmed that he weighs the lowest at the current time after joining the program. We can speculate that Butterbean has lost a significant amount of weight through the DDP’s reality show.
And now after losing weight Butterbean wants to return to the rings and have a match with his friend & former boxing champion Mike Tyson and YouTuber turned wrestler Jake Paul.
Butterbean Fight With Mike Tyson & Jake Paul
Two years ago Butterbean was challenged by his boxer friend Mike Tyson to have a fight with him in the rings but Butterbean was in his darkest phase of life he turned down the challenge. Now Butter bean has lost weight and he feels that he is at his life’s healthiest weight, he now wants to return to the rings and have a fight with either Mike Tyson or Jake Paul.
In his interview with The Sun, Butterbean told that he is not a typical boxer and he just wants to go out there and fight & knock out someone like Jake Paul or Mike Tyson. He further added that Jake Paul runs his mouth too much, he’s never fought anybody, & Butterbean would love to fight him. Butterbean expressed his feelings that he thinks that people will like to see him & Mike Tyson fight.
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Butterbean considers Mike Tyson as a friend but he would not mind fighting a friend in the rings. Like Butterbean’s comeback to boxing, Mike Tyson also returned to boxing in November 2020 after a long retirement from boxing.
