Over the years, multiple South Africans have produced some memorable performances on home soil in annexing a number of world titles from world boxing major sanctioning organisations, but the all-SA clashes will forever stand out in the minds of local fans as the all-time favourites.
Rodney Berman, the Golden Gloves promoter who is staging the tournament headlined ‘Uncivil War’ said when Budler steps into the ring to defend his WBA and IBO minimumweight titles on Saturday, the bout has the makings of one of most zealously-waged contests seen in this country for a while.
Berman said the bout could rank alongside all-SA classics like the Gerrie Coetzee-Kallie Knoetze, Phillip Ndou-Cassius Baloyi and Pierre Coetzer-Johnny du Plooy contests.
Colin Nathan, Budler’s trainer, said with two local rivals in the ring, there was a humdinger was in the offing.
“It’s going to be great for South African fight fans with two locals squaring up, one from Gauteng and the other from the Eastern Cape,” said Nathan. “It promises to be a humdinger.”
