Butterbean, who had weighed in at 193 kilograms at his medical in Sydney a week earlier, stepped up to the scales in Newcastle and the digital read-out flashed "E" for error.

Lawton's weight then came up as 113 kilograms, even though he was 123 kilograms on Thursday, which match-maker Patrick Kennedy said had to be attributed to broken scales.

Their bout on Saturday night might not have gone the distance, but the American super-heavyweight tried to make up for it.

Butterbean, who worked tirelessly to promote the fight in the build-up, retired between rounds two and three with a shoulder complaint.

He was met with a chorus of boos when the fight was officially stopped, but he attempted to appease the masses with promises of a rematch against Lawton in the future.

Despite being in obvious pain and unable to lift his right arm, Butterbean sat ringside during Chad "Hollywood" Bennett's main-event bout against Ghanaian Ebenezer Lamptey and posed for dozens of photographs with star-struck spectators.

Earlier, Butterbean had delighted those spectators by repeatedly taunting Lawton, sticking his chin out, dropping his hands and begging for Lawton to smack him with a flurry of punches.

When Lawton obliged, Butterbean feigned concussion before quickly firing back with a combo of his own.

The tactic meant Butterbean would have been clearly behind on points when the fight was stopped, but the larger-than-life cult figure seemed more disappointed he wasn't able to put on a show for the thousands of fans.