Budler vows to bring belt home

even a game-high 27 poinits, better than the 22 of RoS’s import J’nathan Bullock.

And the big thing about Ross was, while he was booming in bundles, he was also orchestrating SMB’s plays in his usual deadly style.

If Ross was given half of what was due Bridgeman that night, it’d be justified big time. and Art Bacoco placed second and third.

Baguio City Councilor Michael Lawana meanwhile topped Class C with 61 points as Danny Dangatan settled for second place while new comer Ron Cadiogan took home his first trophy by salvaging third place.

In the ladies division, Beth Patterson had 61 points to earn the championship crown in Class A with Better if it’d have come in dollars.

*** You still have time to register for the PBA Fun Run For a Cause on September 10 (tomorrow) at https.//www.shopinas.com/pbarun and help the PBA Alagang Projects and our injured soldiers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Rachel Julian and Letty Baquilar bagged second and third respectively.

Lanie Julian meanwhile won the title in Class B with 65 points as Jean Robles and Lulu Uson finished second and third respectively.

Special awards went to Benjie Bariwan for the longest drive while Frank Ram took the nearest to the pin award. Roderick Osis HEKKIE “Hexecutioner” Budler will go for nothing less than a win when he faces the IBF world light flyweight champion Milan “El Metodico” Melindo in the Pinoy Pride 42: Clash for Glory at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino on Sept. 16.

“I have all the respect for Melindo, he’s a great fighter but I trained extremely for him, I come here ready,” said Budler in a press conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel yesterday.

Budler’s camp arrived last Wednesday to start their acclimatization 13 days before fight night.

“I wanna make this clear, we did not come here on a holiday, we came here for one thing... and that is to win the world title. We are very confident that we’ve done our homework, our research, and on Sept. 16 we will definitely bring the title back to South Africa” said Budler’s trainer, Colin Nathan.

The 29-year old Budler (31-2, 10KOs) has overcame five Filipino boxers in his career and has come to Cebu with a mission to do the same result against a tough cookie in Melindo (362,13KOs).

“We come here earlier to acclimatize accordingly, to get off the jet lag which is very difficult and we want to adapt to the sea level since we trained in high altitude in Johannesburg,” said Nathan.

Budler said that it’s a tough task to fight outside of his country but it will not be a factor come fight night.

“If you’re inside the ring already it doesn’t matter where you fight. I’ve fought six times outside my country and it was always tough, but I enjoy these kind of fights,” said Budler, who defeated Cebu-based fighter Joey Canoy last Feb. 2 in South Africa.

When asked if there’s a possibility of a knockout, Budler said that one punch can really change the whole fight and it’s possible for either fighters.

“Melindo is the type of boxer whom you can’t see a weakness but I am in a best shape. I can even go for 20 rounds. The knockout is also a possibility because one punch can chance everything,” said Budler, who will appear on a public workout on at the activity center at the Ayala Center Cebu at 5 p.m. tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in other bouts, Jason ‘El Niño’ Pagara (40-2, 25KOs) will battle Kenyan James ‘Onyi’ Onyango, while former two-division champ Johnriel ‘Quadro’ Alas Casimero (24-3, 15KOs) takes on Jonas ‘Zorro’ Sultan (13-3, 9KOs) in an IBF junior bantamweight eliminator.

Pagara, the WBO No. 1 light welterweight fighters is facing a replacement foe in Onyango after Ghanaian Richmond Djarbeng pulled out due to an injury in a road accident.

The 34-year-old Onyango is an eightyear veteran with a record of 20-11-1 with 19 knockouts. He has faced the likes of former world champion Julius Indongo, ex-interim world champion David Avanesyan and former world title challenger Denis Shafikov. Sun.Star Cebu