Paul Butler show reaches another defining act as he bids to become three-time world champion

Paul Butler has been around the world – and now he is heading home in a bid to become a three-weight world champion.

Butler has fought in places like Japan and Uzbekistan, but on Saturday night, he goes back to the place where it all started and the place that he has always called home.

Challenging for the IBO world bantamweight title, Butler will take on Norbelto Jimenez at Ellesmere Port Sports Village. And the 35-year-old, who has beaten both Jeison Cervantes and Nabil Ahmed since being stopped by Naoya Inoue, is relishing his homecoming.

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“It is surreal, I haven’t boxed here for 14 years,” he recalls to the ECHO when asked about the location of his fight.

“I had my last ever amatuer fight here. I won the ABAs, and then we had our home show about three weeks later, and I said I wanted to box on that before turning professional.

“It was always the plan to become a professional if I won the ABAs, and I was very lucky that we had an amatuer show on our doorstep, but here we are 14 years later with a little homecoming.”

Asked how the venue came about, Butler explains: “Joe [Gallagher] won the purse bids, and then he asked me if there was anywhere close to me that could hold a decent number of fans.

“I found out that they had had two previous boxing shows here, and then we had a few little meetings with the Sports Village, and now we are a week away.

“It is nice to actually be in my home time and thank the fans because they have travelled for years and years to watch me. It is nice to get home and fight in front of them.”

The huge Liverpool