Novelty of a Trainer Gives Butler Fighting Chance : Boxing: Former patsy, now working out seriously, has become a heavyweight contender with eight consecutive knockouts.

In boxing parlance, when a guy is on his bicycle it means he’s running frantically in the ring from his opponent, trying to avoid a beating. In 1988 Lionel Butler, who jumped into the heavyweight picture earlier this year with a first-round, left-hook knockout of former champion Tony Tubbs, faced a man in New Orleans who was on his bicycle.

Butler hit the guy so hard he put him in the hospital. Butler was arrested because of the blow.

The same left hook that knocked out Tubbs? Perhaps a straight right?

Neither. Butler hit him with a Chevy Impala.

The man, you see, was on his bicycle.

“I never saw the man,” Butler said. “It was at night and I came up over a hill and bang! “

And a boxing career was launched.

It was during a 90-day stay in the New Orleans City Jail after being convicted for negligent driving that Butler was shown a boxing ring for the first time. At age 21, he laced on a pair of tattered leather boxing gloves and pounded away at a heavy bag and a few other jail inmates.

He liked it.

When he got out, he embarked on an amateur boxing career. In a sport in which boxers routinely have 100 amateur fights and having 200 amateur fights before turning pro is not unheard-of, Butler had three .

Two were against Troy Jefferson. And after he beat Jefferson for the second time, Butler figured his amateur career had dragged on long enough. So he declared himself a pro.

“Financially, a long amateur career wasn’t what I was interested in,” Butler said.

At that point, he met Jumbo Stevenson. Jumbo told Butler big things. Made big promises. Told him he could be a champion. Told Butler pretty much anything he thought he might like to hear.

Boxer and manager then set off on their journey. According to Butler, Jumbo had two endearing habits. First, he enjoyed putting the unskilled, untrained Butler into the ring against really good fighters. How good? Well, how does Riddick Bowe--now the undisputed world champion--sound as an opponent in just your second pro fight? And second, Butler said, Jumbo tended to take a huge handful of Butler’s boxing purses and put the money in his own pocket.

Throw in the absence of a training facility and the absence of a trainer, and Butler seemed to have all the ingredients for a career from hell. Which is exactly what he got.

Bowe, the 1988 Olympic silver medalist, nearly dismembered him. That beating--the referee couldn’t stand to watch after just four minutes and stopped the fight--came 12 days after Butler had lost in his pro debut. Three weeks after the Bowe beating, Butler won a fight, taking a decision in Mississippi from a guy named Mike Carol.

The rest of 1989 didn’t go quite as well.

He was stopped by Cleveland Woods in the second round in August, by James Pritchard in the sixth round in early December and cruised into the holidays with no money, a 1-4 record and a very sore face.

In 1990, he fought nine times, losing four of the fights and earning a draw in another. One of the losses came in a lopsided decision to a fellow named Sammy Speech in Missouri.

Butler did, however, meet Troy Jefferson, his old amateur punching bag, and beat him for a third time.

Still without a trainer--he said his only attempt at training was to occasionally drop by a New Orleans YMCA and pound a heavy bag in a closet-like room until his arms got tired, which tended to occur after about 10 minutes--Butler opened 1991 with a bang, losing two of his first three fights, which dragged his record down to a locker combination-like 6-10-1.

All things considered, it appeared the guy on the bike who Butler plowed into got the better of the mishap. One bad beating, a few weeks in a hospital and he was fine. Butler was taking a beating on a regular basis every six weeks or so and if he had not yet earned the ultimate loser’s nickname in the sport of boxing-- bum --he was well on his way.

“I didn’t know anything about boxing,” Butler concedes. “I didn’t know anything about training, about throwing punches, about the stuff that goes on outside the ring with your money. Nothing. I’d show up for a fight. That was it.”

Today, Butler is ranked among the top 15 heavyweights in the world.

He has knocked out eight consecutive opponents, including the stunning one-round demolition of former World Boxing Assn. champion Tubbs in August on national television to boost his record to 14-10-1.

And fighters who a year ago would have fought him for the price of a new rubber mouthpiece just to pad their record with another easy victory are now--get this-- ducking Lionel Butler.

“The win over Tubbs, and the way he did it, astounded people,” said Brad Jacobs, the matchmaker for USA Network Boxing, which televised the bout against Tubbs. “And it has made it hard to get anyone else to fight him.

“He proved he can fight. Now, he’s seen as a giant-killer. None of the guys who are building their own careers want anything to do with him. Michael Moorer said he’s been out of training for six months and isn’t ready for Butler. (Former champion) Tim Witherspoon wanted way too much money to fight Butler. Even Larry Holmes wanted nothing to do with this guy.

“The knockout of Tubbs may have been the worst thing that could have happened to Lionel. Now, no one will fight him.”

But Dan Goossen, head of Van Nuys-based Ten Goose Boxing and now Butler’s manager, said he can deal with that problem.

“If we offer enough money, he’ll get some top fights,” Goossen said. “I’d rather have this problem of no one wanting to fight Lionel than the problem of no one caring whether he fights or not. That’s the direction he was headed.”

The change came last October when Butler asked Dan Goossen to manage his career and Dan’s brother, Joe, to train him. The Goossens at first wanted to handle Butler’s career about as much as they would have liked to handle nuclear waste.

“He said he needed some attention,” Dan Goossen said. “The 6-10 record, that’s what caught my attention. I was ready to give him about 100 excuses why we couldn’t handle him. But then Lionel talked Joe into taking a close look at him in the gym.”

What Joe Goossen saw was a large man, 6-feet, 225 pounds and as wide as a truck, all shoulders and massive arms. When he watched Butler hit the heavy bag, he also saw some breathtaking power in his punches. What he saw was potential.

“Joe convinced me to give him a chance,” Dan Goossen said. “So Joe took a few months and got him ready for a fight and bang , he knocks the guy (Don Askew) out in the first round. Then we put him in against another guy (Dominic Parker) and bang , Lionel knocks him out in the first round. Same thing in his next fight (against Terry Verners). Three first-round knockouts. Then I was interested.”

The difference, Butler said, is training. Having someone show him how to throw a punch. And how to duck or block a punch. And how to get in shape so that he could fight for more than about two minutes without gasping hard enough to suck the stopwatch out of the timekeeper’s hand.

“Even when I was 6-10, I never thought about quitting,” Butler said. “Boxing became my life. I was meant to fight. I lived for it. It was so thrilling and exciting. I just loved it. But now, with training and a new attitude and people who care about me, it’s a whole new world.

“I used to get so tired after one round I could hardly stand up. No one ever told me about running, about doing roadwork to get in shape. I never even saw a jump rope. I didn’t know any better. When I got tired after two or three minutes, I figured that was normal. I figured the other guy must be just as tired as I was. But, usually, he wasn’t.

“Now, I’m so much stronger and faster than I ever was. It’s like a different person. Now, if I get tired in the ring, you can bet the other guy is very, very tired. Or unconscious.”

Butler has moved to Van Nuys, within a few blocks of the Ten Goose gym.

He trains with Joe Goossen every day.

He is just 25.

“A year ago, no one expected anything from Lionel,” Dan Goossen said. “He was a loser, in boxing terms. Now, I think he can go a long, long way. I’d put him in the ring with anybody. And when he succeeds, it will be the greatest feeling.

“We’ve all been knocked down in life, just like Lionel. But to get back up and fight your way to the top, that’s the sweetest thing of all.”