Hekkie ‘Hexecutioner’ Budler’s win over Mexican Elwin ‘La Pulga’ Soto in a World Boxing Council (WBC) junior-flyweight elimination bout in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico on Sunday morning (South African time), has left Colin ‘Nomakanjani’ Nathan in ecstatic mood.
Nathan, who trains Budler, led the former Ring Magazine champion to a unanimous decision win over Soto in foreign land.
Budler is eligible to challenge WBC junior-flyweight titlist Kenshiro ‘The Amazing Boy’ Teraji from Japan now that he has beaten Soto, a former World Boxing Organisation (WBO) junior-flyweight champion.
“Just over the moon with the result. We had a really, really good game plan. Hekkie boxed according to instructions, controlled the centre of the ring, used his jab and created the distance and range effectively,” Nathan remarked.
The multiple award-winning trainer insisted that they went into the fight with almost no one giving them a chance against the Mexican. However, Budler pulled it off getting the nod from all three judges.
South Africa’s most successful boxer survived an early onslaught from Soto and dropped the Mexican in the 12th round. The knock down proved to be very key in deciding the outcome of the fight with all the judges scoring the bout 114-113 in their three scorecards.
“Just over the moon that we pulled it off. Not many people gave us a chance. We were definitely the underdogs,” Nathan said.
The 34-year-old Budler has since improved his record to 34 victories with 10 stoppages and four losses.
