Featured Image Credit: Jackass: The Movie
Topics: Boxing, MMA, WWE, WrestleMania
Chris Nee
How long would it take for a super heavyweight boxing colossus to knock out a common or garden Hollywood actor? Not long, it turns out.
In 2002, a hastily scheduled punch-up took place in a department store and it was all over within seconds.
The outcome was no surprise. The bout between two pugilists in patriotic ring shorts and regulation boxing gloves was the definition of a mismatch and the actor ended up sprawled on the deck.
Johnny Knoxville was the poor fool who stepped into the virtual ring with a 378-pound behemoth and predictably got his lights punched out in the name of entertainment as horrified onlookers tried to make some sense out of the scene that had unfolded before their very eyes.
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What they were witnessing was one of the more brutal scenes of 'Jackass: The Movie'.
Knoxville's opponent – briefly – was the unique and legendary super heavyweight Butterbean.
Born Eric Esch, Butterbean boasted a record of 77 wins from 91 professional bouts and has also competed in both kickboxing and mixed martial arts.
But the former boxer is just as well known for a slew of media appearances outside the ring.
In 1997, Esch competed in a kayfabe World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) boxing match against former amateur boxer Marc Mero, winning by disqualification.
A little over a year later, he took 34 seconds to knock out Bart Gunn in an extremely controversial legitimate boxing match at Wrestlemania.
His fearsome character spiked by the defeat, Gunn was soon released from his contract and his career was never the same again.
Knoxville didn't fare much better under an avalanche of body blows in the fashion aisles.
Butterbean floored him in the luggage section and allowed him a free shot before brutally dropping him for a second time to be declared the winner.
The 'Jackass' star required stitches after the fight, not for the first time or the last, but showed his caring nature and concern for his opponent with a post-match quip that belied his physical condition on the literal shop floor.
"Is Butterbean okay?" asked Knoxville.
The movie took $79.5 million at the box office and set Knoxville on the road to bigger and better things.
His later work has include a remake of 'The Dukes of Hazzard' and 'Walking Tall', in which he co-starred with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.