Rumble in the Carnivore as Zarika, Phiri head to the ring

Kenya’s World Boxing Council (WBC) super bantamweight women’s champion Fatuma Zarika has issues a war cry to former world champion Catherine Phiri ahead of their WBC world female bantamweight fight set for Saturday, December 2, at Carnivore Grounds, Nairobi.

Speaking with Citizen Digital the Kenyan pugilist who has been honing her skills in Las Vegas, US for the last two weeks anticipates a tough fight but optimistic that the intense training she has had will boost her.

“The fight will not be an easy picking but I’m well prepared. I believe in the intense training that I have been through for the past two months, and with that I will defend my title,” she said.

The two have never met in the ring and Fatuma admitted that Phiri is a fine boxer but she is unfazed by her pedigree and confident that she will defend her title.

“Phiri is an intelligent boxer and I respect her, she has a record of 12-2 and I have a record of 43-11 but that does not mean she will send me tumbling on the canvas, I will teach her a lesson,” she added.

Zarika was born in Nairobi, Kenya, on 13 March, 1985 and the stylish orthodox stance boxer started as an amateur in 2000 after leaving high school and immediately joined Mathare Boxing Club.

She clinched her first major belt on November 12, 2006 when she whitewashed Pavia Stankeova of Czech Republic for Women International Boxing Federation (WIBF) bantamweight title in Nairobi’s Laico Regency Hotel.

The 32 year old, mother of two, also became the first Kenyan female boxer to win the World Boxing Council (WBC) Super Bantam weight title after defeating Jamaican defending champion Alicia Ashley in Dort Federal Event Center in Flint, Michigan, US on a split point decision last year.

On the other hand, Zarika’s opponent who is the immediate former World Boxing Commission bantamweight relinquished her title to Mexican Marianna Juarez through a unanimous decision this year in Mexico in April 1.

Meanwhile, Zarika has appealed to lovers of the sport to turn up in their large numbers to grace the event.