Newton JNU
For one last chance to win the championship, two past world champions will compete. This Saturday, June 25, at Palenque Fex in Mexicali, Mexico, Elwin “La Pulga” Soto of Mexico and Hekkie “The Hexecutioner” Budler of South Africa, both defending two-weight world titles, will square off in a 12-round WBC light flyweight title eliminator.
Soto will benefit from home crowd support as he is from San Felipe, located two hours away from Mexicali. The 34-year-old veteran from Johannesburg, Budler, will be playing in North America for just the third time in his career.
In June 2019, Soto (19-2, 13 KOs) defeated Angel “Tito” Acosta in the 12th round to claim the WBO light flyweight championship. Over the following two years, he successfully defended the title four more times before ultimately losing it to Jonathan Gonzalez last October by a split decision. He hasn’t competed since losing to Gonzalez, and by defeating Budler, he wants to have another chance to face WBC world champion Kenshiro Teraj.
In March 2014, Budler (33-4, 10 KOs), who has gone 12 rounds 17 times, defeated Karluis Diaz to win the WBA 105-pound championship. Before losing a close decision to Byron Rojas, he successfully defended the belt four times. The WBA, IBF, and Ring Magazine 108-pound belts were won by Budler over Ryoichi Taguchi in May 2018. He held the top spot among 108-pounders for a little over seven months. After taking a break of a little more than two years, Budler made a comeback in Johannesburg in May and defeated Jonathan Almacen in a unanimous decision to claim the WBC Silver light flyweight title.
Date and Time
The fight night will begin on Saturday, June 25 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
Viewing instructions for Elwin Soto vs. Hekkie Budler
In the US, boxing fans can watch Elwin Soto vs. Hekkie Budler live on ESPN+.
Even if there isn’t a live stream for other nations, anybody outside the region can connect using a VPN like ExpressVPN or NordVPN and watch Soto vs. Budler live virtually anywhere.
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