Hekkie Budler is itching to put on a fourth world title belt. And the pint-sized boxer with a big heart believes nothing will stop him achieving his goal.
He gets the opportunity to do that on February 4 at Emperors Palace when he tackles Joey Canoy of the Phillipines for the vacant IBO junior flyweight title.
“I know it’s going to be a hard fight,” the boxer nicknamed “The Hexecutioner” said at the open workout for Golden Gloves Promotions’ Lightning and Thunder tournament at Smith’s Gym in Fourways. “But I can’t wait to get my fourth belt around my waist.”
Recently deposed as WBA and IBO minimum-weight champion by Nicaragua’s Byron Rojas, Budler quickly got back to winning ways when he outpointed Siyabonga Siyo in their clash for the vacant WBA Pan-African light-flyweight gong.
“That loss brought me back down to earth,” he said. “And sometimes it is good for a boxer to lose because it makes you work even harder. The loss got me to have more fire and try to do better.”
That spells bad news for Canoy, as Budler is clearly eager to become world champion again.
The hunger was evident as he purposefully worked on the punch bag under the watchful eye of his wife and No1 fan, Roxy.
He later displayed his ring craft to the delight of the crowd when he hit the pads with trainer Colin Nathan.
It will, however, be much tougher on fight night, for Canoy will not be easy pickings. The Filipino southpaw boasts a 40 percent knockout ratio and his last two fights were TKOs. This, though, will be Canoy’s first fight out of the Philippines, with all 15 of his bouts - 12 wins, two losses and a draw - on home soil.
While he described himself as a one fight at a time kind of boxer, Budler has higher ambitions than just beating Canoy.
“I never look beyond the next fight and right now all I am thinking of is to win the fight with Canoy. But, hopefully, I can be the No1 flyweight in the world. I would like to fight all the other top flyweight boxers in the world.”
Given his talent that has seen him win the IBO flyweight as well as both the IBO and WBA minimum-weight titles, there can be no denying that Budler has it in him to realise his goal. First, though, he must get past Canoy.
In another fight on the bill, Ryno Liebenberg will be out to get even with Germany’s Enrico Koelling, who controversially beat him when they met last year. “I thought I won the first fight, so I won't do anything differently for this one and hopefully the judges see what's happening in the ring properly,” said the Krugersdorp boxer nicknamed “The Lion”.