Former WBA strawweight titlist Hekkie Budler had lost against IBF 108-pound titleholder Milan Melindo (SD 12) in the Philippines, in September 2017.

Budler and his coach, Colin Nathan, were determined to get another title shot.

"The IBF said they'll give us the rematch, but Melindo has already signed the contract to have a fight against [WBA titlist Ryoichi] Taguchi but that we’d fight the winner,” Budler told The Ring.

Taguchi subsequently dominated Melindo and won a 12-round unanimous decision to unify the IBF and WBA titles and picked up the vacant Ring title.

Due to the one-sided nature of that fight, Budler had his doubts.

"I said to Colin, 'Do you think I can win this? Because this guy just destroyed the guy, I think I won against but lost against.' And he said, 'With your style, with you moving, I think you've got this.' I believed anything Colin said," he said. "I always believed him and put my trust in him."

Budler, who was a 19/1 underdog, held camp at Nathan's Hot Box gym in Johannesburg before flying economy to Dubai and then on to Tokyo.

"I'm so small, I could have flown in the luggage hold!," he said laughing.

Budler, who initially struggled with jet lag, found himself feeling claustrophobic in his hotel room.

"The hotel room was so small, I think I took four steps from one side to the other side,” he said. “I'm small and the bath was too small for me to sit in."

Budler also found the culture to be completely different in Japan.

"When you run in South Africa in a street and people wave at you, you wave back and in Japan, I waved at people, and they kept looking down. They didn't want to look at me,” he said. “I found out while being there, it's a sign of respect, you don't look somebody in the eyes when greeting them. I felt so bad.”

The challenger also had to contend with very different food and had to improvise.

"I asked the hotel if they would boil the eggs in the hotel,” he said. “They said they don't do that. They make a runny egg; I can't eat that. Mine have to be boiled, so I'd go to a little shop on the corner and buy eggs and boil the eggs in the kettle."

The two fighters met for the first time at the press conference and Budler also got his first glimpse of the world titles that would be up for grabs on fight.

"I always said, even before I turned pro, to Colin, my parents, everyone that would listen: I want to win The Ring Magazine belt,” he said.

"To me, it was if you win this belt, you're the No. 1 fighter in the division. You're the guy and that's what I wanted. I was in touching distance. I could see it.”

The night before the weigh in, Budler and Nathan wanted to check on his weight to see if they had any additional weight to shift.

“We opened the door, and I saw my opponent skipping with a sauna suit, as he looked at me, I took a sip of the juice and his trainers came running at us and telling out of the gym, it's not allowed,” he said. “We said, 'Sorry.' and left.

"We knew he wasn't on weight, and he knew I was on weight. All in the mind. Little victories.”

Ultimately, neither fighter had any issues with weight coming in bang on the division limit of 108-pounds.

On fight night everything was well organized and went without a hitch at the arena.

"When I came in there was a light clap and when he came it was a bit of a louder clap because he's their guy but it's very respectful," he said.

"The weird thing in Japan, the challenger walks out second, in other countries the champion walks out second."

Budler was happy with how the early exchanges went.

"I felt good after that first round,” he said. “I could see his punches and could read them, and I didn’t feel his power. I felt I was winning rounds; I was out manoeuvring him, I was landing the quicker punches and making him miss. As the fight progressed, it was close, but I felt I was winning."

Budler had luck on his side in the middle rounds when a knockdown against him wasn't scored.

"The sixth or seventh round, I threw a left hook, and he threw a left hook and he landed, and I landed on his glove, and he put me down," he said. "Luckily, the referee didn't count it as a knockdown. I got up and I said, 'I'm fine.' And the ref said, 'No knockdown.' And we continued fighting. I was happy the ref didn't count but it should have been one."

At the end of 12 rounds the fight was up for grabs and went to the scorecards but before they were announced an earlier incident was brought to their attention.

"The promoters are jumping around and they're showing the replay of the knockdown on TV that they didn't call a knockdown, and the referee saw I got hit and the next thing they're changing the score from a 10-9 to me to 10-8 to him - That's massive,” he said. “I grabbed Colin and I said, 'What do you think?' And he said, 'Hekkie, I don't know.'"

Budler was standing waiting for the scorecards, hoping for the best, fearing the worst.

"They're reading the scores but not giving the names, I thought I'd lost, and they say, 'And the NEW,’" he said. "I still won, one point on all three judges’ scorecards.

"The only thing that was better than that was getting married and having my child. They put the belts over me, it was amazing."

Budler and his team went back to the hotel and kept things low-key before returning home.

"Sitting in coach, nobody knowing who I am," he said. "I came back, my wife, some other people, some boxing came to say congratulations at the airport."

Questions/comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk and you can follow him on X @AnsonWainwr1ght.