Ring return: Hekkie Budler eyes another title shot

Hekkie Budler, drenched in perspiration, climbed through the ropes after sparring this week and jokingly proclaimed: "I don't know why we love this game."

Professional boxing is hard enough, but in SA it seems even tougher compared to other countries.

Budler, who returns to the ring at his old Booysens amateur club to fight Filipino Jonathan Almacen on Saturday after a hiatus of more than two years, should know.

He has been to the top of the world, becoming only the second SA pugilist in history to win a Ring magazine belt which is reserved only for unified champions in this age of alphabetic titles.

He is one of only five SA fighters to have held genuine world titles at different weights, holding the WBA strawweight crown before later adding the IBF and WBA junior-flyweight straps.

Budler is a giant of the fight game locally, but he's barely a blip on the international radar - and that's par for the course for his fistic compatriots. The sport has in recent times been dominated by superstars such as Canelo Alvarez and Tyson Fury, as well as Gennady Golovkin, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.

They hail from Mexico, Britain, Russia, the Philippines and the US. But South Africans have never ascended to those heights, although Budler points out that Vic Toweel, the other Ring belt recipient, was the undisputed world bantamweight champion in the early 1950s.

Brian Mitchell was a major force in the junior-lightweight class, but sport politics prevented him from fighting Azumah Nelson to determine the division's top dog.

Since Mitchell more than 20 SA boxers have won genuine world titles, eight of them since 2010, but not one has become a superstar.

"In recent times our amateur boxing has taken a massive dive. A lot of the guys are turning pro before they do anything in the amateurs," said Budler, who himself abandoned the unpaid ranks before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The state of the amateur game is so poor that the previous administration failed to secure funding to send a team to the African Olympic qualifying tournament, a debacle that will see SA field no boxers in Tokyo.

The decline of SA amateur boxing is more easily measured in Commonwealth Games medals. Boxers won six gongs at the three events from 1998 to 2006, and then just a single fighter made the podium at the next three from 2010 to 2018.

But local paid fighters also face their own challenges, added Budler. "A lot of the pros, we don't get the right support. Most of us have to work as well, we don't get sponsorships or anything like that. That's a big thing in SA boxing.

"Look at a guy like Canelo, that guy doesn't have to work."

Budler, who has endured five cancelled fights in the past two years, works as a personal trainer to supplement his income, but the first few months of lockdown last year hurt his pocket.

"I had to start using my savings, so I need to fight," said the fighter, who turns 33 on Tuesday, a month before daughter Freya turns one.

His stablemate, Ryno Liebenberg, preparing to fight Russian Fedor Chudinov in St Petersburg on June 4, says SA boxing lacks the support and expertise that fighters in other countries enjoy. "We have the talent," he said.

In his own gym he points out junior-lightweight prospect Cayden Truter as a potential star. "[But] I think our levels of sparring and training are behind. They have trainers for conditioning and strength and fitness. There's more money overseas.

"Fighters there have sparring partners lined up for fights, whereas we pretty much spar with whoever is in the gym."

Budler, at least, has had decent spars with Simphiwe Khonco, who is fighting on the same card, and Moruti Mthalane, the former IBF flyweight champion.

Right now SA is without a genuine world champion but Budler, ranked third by the WBC, is hoping for another title crack.

"I'd like to add a WBC or WBO belt to my collection," said Budler, who still has the fire. "I still look forward to fighting, I still look forward to coming to the gym."