Having recently served as a sparring partner for the first American heavyweight boxing titlist in nearly a decade, Raphael Butler has acquired a sense of what it takes to be a champion.
The Bellator MMA heavyweight was in camp helping Deontay Wilder ahead of his last two fights, including the WBC champion’s ninth-round knockout of Artur Szpilka in Brooklyn on Jan. 16.
“His camp are awesome people. They really take care of the sparring partners. They don’t treat the sparring partners like they’re pieces of meat,” Butler told Sherdog.com. “They actually try to take care of the guys and make sure that they want to come back.