Seven South Africans in ring rankings

Heading the list is tearaway Hekkie Budler, who is placed at number one in the strawweight division by Ring and is widely considered the best boxer in the world in the lightest of the 17 weight divisions.

Next best South African in the Ring rankings is IBF champion Zolani Tete, who is placed as the number four challenger in the junior bantamweight division.

Moruti Mthalane is the number six challenger among the flyweights, with Simpiwe Vetyeka, Jeffrey Mathebula and Thomas Oosthuizen in seventh position in the featherweight, junior featherweight and super middleweight divisions respectively.

Exciting winner of last year’s “Super Six” event at Emperors Palace, Thabiso Mchunu, is placed at number eight in the cruiserweight division after making an impressive debut in the discerning United States market.

But Ring has found no place for unbeaten light-heavyweight Rayno Liebenberg, whose all-action style has invigorated waning interest in the local boxing scene.

However, Liebenberg will have the opportunity of making Ring’s top 10 when he fights Colombia’s highly regarded Canelo Alvarez in a tournament staged in conjunction with Rodney Berman’s Golden Gloves Promotions in Monte Carlo next month.

Alvarez is placed at number eight in the Ring rankings and poses what will be the most severe test for Liebenberg in the ring thus far.

Budler is also scheduled to feature in this tournament, defending his WBA and IBO titles against China’s former WBC champion Xiong Zhao Zhong.

While Ring’s rankings might be the most respected in the boxing fraternity, they still contain the anomalies that are evident in all the other rankings.

Oosthuizen’s surprising retention as a top 10 super middleweight comes at a time when he has not fought for almost a year because of a succession of personal problems, while he has also made it known that he will move up to the light-heavyweight division when he returns to the ring.

However, the presence of seven South Africans in Ring’s respected rankings indicates that the gloomy recent assessments of South African boxing are more due to the manner in which the sport is run in the country than to the calibre of the fighters.

– Sapa