Raphael Butler is heavyweight

Heavyweight

Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...

 professional boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Butler now resides in Rochester

Rochester, Minnesota

Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on both banks of the Zumbro River, The city has a population of 106,769 according to the 2010 United States Census, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside of the...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.

Amateur

He had a stellar amateur career, winning the 2004 National Golden Gloves Super Heavyweight Championship. Butler represented the 4th Street Gym in his hometown of Rochester.

Professional career

Butler turned pro in 2004 and has been active thus far in his pro career. He was seen as a future star in the sport early on, but suffered two TKO

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

 losses against journeyman fighters in 2005. In 2006 he took on ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 house fighter Jason Gavern, and lost a decision. After the loss, Butler ran off a string of victories against marginal opposition before taking on Art Binkowski

Art Binkowski

Artur "Art" Binkowski is a Polish-born Canadian heavyweight boxer who competed for his adopted country Canada at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.-Background:...

 in a nationally televised showcase bout on ShoBox. Despite dropping Binkowski three times in the first round, Butler tired as the fight went on, and the referee stopped the fight with just 30 seconds left before the final bell, awarding Binkowski a TKO. After six more wins against lesser competition, Butler was knocked out in 6 rounds by contender "Fast" Eddie Chambers

Eddie Chambers (boxer)

Edward "Eddie" Chambers is an American heavyweight boxer fighting out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Professional career:Eddie started boxing professionally in 2000 at the age of 18...

 on June 20 in the Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...

.