06.04.07 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: In the film Cinderella Man, Art Binkowski was the first victim of James J. Braddock’s Cinderella like rise to the top. Tonight, however, Binkowski made his own Hollywood boxing highlight reel by coming back from behind to stop his opponent in the eighth and final round.
The bout started quickly with Binkowski, a late minute replacement, coming right at Butler and getting clipped in the opening moments of the fight. Two more devastating knockdowns where in Binkowski completely turned and twisted around from his opponent. It was a wonder why the ref would have let the fight and Binkowski get out of the first round after the last vicious knockdown but obviously it was the correct decision.
In between rounds, Binkowski’s corner correctly advised him to bulrush Butler and keep it on the inside, which he did for the next seven rounds. For the most part, the fight seemed close even though the Showtime crew thought Butler was constantly taking round after round. It seemed Binkowski’s boxing work on the inside was dictating the pace of the fight and why by of Ring Generalship a few of the middle rounds should have gone to him. Even so, with the 10-6, Butler was still way ahead on the cards by the time the final round rolled around.
In the last round, the pace of the bout progressed much the previous six, but suddenly, what looked like an uppercut on the inside, snapped Butler’s head towards heaven. Throughout the fight when either man scored the one damaging similar blow a quick inside grappling session ensued not allowing either man a chance to gain the upperhand. However, sensing the fight was not winnable on the cards Binkowski followed up with a huge barrage of shots which all almost unanimously found the mark and put Butler down head first. As he got up, the mouthpiece fell out of his mouth, at which point the ref rushed to put it back in the fighter’s mouth. As he was about to resume the action, Butler’s mouthpiece fell south again, at which point Butler’s cornerman jumped on the apron to halt the boxing bout. Although it seemed that the ref would attempt and continue the bout, the truth is, the stoppage was very proper since Butler could barely stay on his feet as he stumbled to his corner.
After the bout, the referee properly pointed out that the fight was stopped because giving Butler a chance to recover by rinsing the mouthpiece in the corner would have been unfair. It was a last ditch ploy similar to the famous Corrales Castillo 1 incident, and while understandable, I don’t think anybody should argue or complain with the ref acting in the interest of the guy who today was the rightful winner in my opinion.
Congratulations to Binkowski on a great come from behind win.