Budler a Hekkie of a fighter - Mitchell

Former world champion and hall of famer Brian Mitchell says the boxing world will eventually take notice of Hekkie Budler.

The 26-year-old Budler holds the WBA and IBO strawweight titles and will put both on the line when he defends against Xiong Zhao Zhong in Monte Carlo on October 25.

But even though he is a dual champion, the WBC, IBF and WBO curiously do not recognise Budler's achievements and he has yet to earn a top-15 rating on their charts.

Mitchell - who works as a fight publicist for Golden Gloves and doubles as the boxing commentator for SuperSport - said yesterday Budler deserved far more respect than he is accorded at the moment.

''Although Budler fights in the smallest weight division in the world, his achievements as a fighter put him high up there [alongside] American Floyd Mayweather Junior," Mitchell said yesterday.

The revered The Ring magazine rates Mayweather as the No1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world in all weight divisions.

''As they say, dynamite comes in small packages. Hekkie is a superstar and I am definitely sure that the world will soon take note of him," Mitchell said.

Budler - whose impressive fighting skills are polished by Colin Nathan - is currently rated No1 by the popular Fightnews. com website. The Ring ranks him as its No1 pound for pound straw-weight fighter in the world.

But it is unclear why the other sanctioning bodies continue to ignore him.

Budler will get an opportunity to show exactly what he is made of when he faces Zhong at the end of the month.

The 31-year-old Zhong, the former WBC minimum-weight and WBC Silver junior flyweight holder from China, is rated No12 by the WBA, fourth by the WBO, and the Fightnews.Com website has placed him in its sixth spot.

Though Budler has only one defeat in 27 bouts, Zhong has been beaten five times and has won 25 fights.

The bout against Zhong will form part of the four championship events that will be staged by local promoter Rodney Berman at La Salles des Etoiles.

Nathan said he has seen video footage of Zhong in action and he anticipates a tricky assignment.

''He is a tough customer, but I am confident that Hekkie will be victorious and make South African boxing proud again," Nathan said. "This will be another opportunity to show the world why we are rated the No1 pound for pound in the world.

"Hekkie dazzled fans as well as Prince Albert in our last outing in Monaco, against Pigmy Kokietgym, and we are going to do exactly the same on October 25," he said.