Eimantas Stanionis figured it would be a mere formality to announce his name in victory after outworking Radzhab Butaev over twelve grueling rounds.
Instead, the unbeaten Lithuanian was forced to sweat out a split decision before having his hand raised in victory to claim Butaev’s WBA ‘World’ welterweight title this Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Normally reliable judge Javier Alvarez (114-113) had Russia’s Butaev winning, while judges Robert Hoyle (117-110) and Jose Roberto Torres (116-111) scored the contest more in line with what Stanionis expected to be the case across the board.
“I was surprised that it was a split decision,” Stanionis said Monday after recapping the win with BoxingScene.com and select other media outlets during an invitation-only Zoom press conference. “I know the fight was competitive, but I thought I won nine rounds. I can even see eight rounds to four as the maximum they give.”
Stanionis (14-0, 9KOs; 1ND) accepted the fight with Butaev (14-1, 10KOs; 1NC) as a consolation for stepping aside from his owed mandatory title fight versus then-WBA “Super” welterweight titlist Yordenis Ugas (27-5, 12KOs). The 2016 Lithuanian Olympian and unbeaten welterweight agreed to allow Ugas to move forward with a three-belt title unification bout with WBC/IBF titlist Errol Spence Jr. (28-0, 22KOs) in the Showtime Pay-Per-View main event, which Spence won by tenth-round stoppage.
Stanionis and Butaev inflicted heavy punishment upon one another atop the Showtime freeview telecast preceding the PPV show. At the end of twelve rounds, it was believed that Stanionis won a decision with room to spare. Only two of the three judges agreed, just enough to allow the unbeaten welterweight and new secondary titlist to breathe a sigh of relief while positioning himself to fight for the division’s top prize within his next couple of fights.
“I had to dig deep, show my skill and my will to become champion. I am grateful for this opportunity,” noted Stanionis. “It felt good but I was surprised that it was a split decision.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox