Hekkie Budler scored his first stoppage in nearly two years as Filipino fighter Joey Canoy remained in his corner after the seventh round of their scheduled 12-round bout Saturday at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, South Africa.

The win was the second straight for Budler (31-2, 10 knockouts) since moving back up to the junior flyweight division after losing the WBA strawweight title in a close fight against Byron Rojas. Canoy (12-3-1, 6 KOs), of Mandaue City, Philippines, lost the second time in a year by stoppage, having been halted by Jesse Espinas in five rounds a year ago.

Each of Budler’s previous five fights had gone the distance, with his last stoppage being an eighth-round knockout of Pigmy Kokietgym in 2014.

Colin Nathan, the trainer/manager for Budler, says his 28-year-old pupil handled Canoy “pretty easily,” adding that The Ring’s No. 9 ranked 108-pound fighter “stayed close and broke him down, took [Canoy’s] range away and broke him down.”

Nathan calls the win “the first step on where he left the mini-flyweight division.” Though there’s no date for his next fight, Nathan says he’s “keen to get him back to [number one]” in a division which includes IBF titleholder Akira Yaegashi, WBC titleholder Ganigan Lopez, WBO titleholder Kosei Tanaka and WBA titleholder Ryoichi Taguchi.

Budler is rated No. 5 by the WBC and No. 4 by the WBA.

The fight was part of a card promoted by South African company Golden Gloves.

Also on the card, cruiserweight Kevin Lerena (17-1, 9 KOs) won his sixth straight fight with a fifth round technical knockout of Vikapita Meroro (28-6, 14 KOs).