Just as he was gathering a reputation in the sport, South Africa?s minimumweight star Hekkie Budler was unceremoniously knocked off his perch by Nicaraguan hardman Byron Rojas on Saturday night.
Budler, who recently cracked the WBN Pound for Pound 50 for the first time, was out-worked and out-fought by Rojas and eventually went down 115-113 on all three scorecards despite being at home.
The Emperors Palace crowd watch on in disbelief as Budler, 27, surrendered his IBO and WBA ?super? world titles to the two years younger Rojas, which saw ?The Hexecutioner? miss out on a potential three-belt unification in the summer.
In the co-feature, Paul Kamanga inflicted a second loss on Roman Belaev to successfully defend his WBA Pan African welterweight title.
The 22 year-old stands on the verge on a big break in the USA and did his chances of landing a big TV fight no harm with a unanimous decision on all three judges cards.
Earlier, Warren Joubert gained revenge on compatriot Grant Fourie to recapture the South African super lightweight title. Joubert scored a unanimous decision after the twelve round limit to push his record to 24-4-5.
A third fight looks destined to happen between the pair at some point in the near future.
