By Mesuli Zifo

The camp of South African fighter Simpiwe Vetyeka has decided on his next step and it wants him to challenge WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters.

However Walters' promoter Bob Arum is reportedly reluctant to match the Jamaican against “V12” preferring to let him unify with WBO champion Vasyl Lomachenko instead.

Vetyeka got back to the win column when he scored a one sided points decision over Mexican Arturo Santos Reyes in East London last month.

The win earned him the mandatory status for Walters' crown and helped him pick up the WBA international crown.

While the SA boxer was hesitant to publicly challenge Walters after the fight due to the existing friendship between them, he has since announced that he is keen to test his skills against the hard hitting Jamaican.

“We want Walters but I sense that uncle Bob is not too keen on the fight,” said Vetyeka's manager Andile Sidinile who also acts as his SA promoter.

Walters enhanced his status as arguably the best featherweight in the world after scoring two devastating knock-outs in his last two bouts.

In May he destroyed Vic Darchinyan in five rounds to retain his then WBA regular crown in a bout which served as a co-feature to Vetyeka defending his super version of the WBA title against Filipino Nonito Donaire.

While Walters prevailed, Vetyeka succumbed, surrendering the title to Donaire albeit in disputed circumstances.

In his last bout in October, the “Axe Man”put Donaire in a grinder, stopping him in six rounds to become the unified WBA champion in the division.

There has been debate on who is the best featherweight between Walters and Lomachenko with some pundits opting for the technically gifted Ukrainian over the hard-punching WBA champion.

Arum is reportedly eager to put that debate to bed by matching the duo in what would be one of the highly anticipated featherweight clashes in recent memory.

However Vetyeka wants to get his piece of the cake first and Walters' manager Jacques Deschamps is reportedly leaning towards a defence against the SA boxer who at 34 does not pose as much danger as Lomachenko.

Walters' increasing marketability from his stoppage victories over Darchinyan and Donaire will further be enhanced by a similar outcome against Vetyeka, boosting his bargaining power during negotiations against Lomachenko.

Sidinile argues that his charge is ready for Walters and despite the latter's boosted image, he still sees some chinks in his amour.

“Of course we will not reveal what we see as Walters' weaknesses for now until the fight has been clinched.”

Vetyeka's technical decision loss to Donaire when he was floored in the third, was his third loss in 30 bouts suffering his other defeats to Japanese Hozumi Hasegawa in WBC bantamweight title challenge way back in 2007 and to unheralded compatriot Klaas Mboyane.

Walters is yet to taste a defeat in 25 bouts with impressive 21 stoppages.