Boxing: Kenyan training in Las Vegas ahead of WBC title fight against Zambia’s Phiri next month in Nairobi

BOXING Zarika Fatuma fight Flora Machela from Tanzania during the boxing event dubbed "Bigger than life" at Carnivore Restaurant in Nairobi,Kenya on February 18, 2017. Fatuma won on a TKO. Photo/Stafford Ondego/www.sportpicha.com

Fatuma is Kenya’s most talked about female professional boxer after the exit of Conjestina Achieng.

Standing at only 1.63m (five feet, four inches), Zarika Njeri Kangethe, famously known as Fatuma Zarika after converting to Islam, packs a punch that has seen her make a mark in the international female boxing arena.

The 32-year-old mother of two is in Las Vegas, United States of America, training for the defence of her World Boxing Council (WBC) super bantamweight title against Catherine Phiri of Zambia, tentatively on December 2 in Nairobi.

“Zarika has established a routine training for the last two months ahead of her title defence. She trains three times a day.

“Her routine involves morning runs and weight lifting in the evening. She does a lot of sparring too,” her manager Ejay Mathews said earlier this week.

Mathews — who owns the Bigger Than Life Entertainment promotion that is organising the title fight — maintained Zarika was in far better shape than in October last year when she shocked the boxing world by winning the coveted WBC super-bantam belt.

“The training has made her better, stronger and more accurate than when she won the title against Alicia Ashley of Jamaica in October last year,” Mathews insisted.

Zarika is in the US boxing capital preparing to trade blows against Phiri after her re-match against Ashley in Dallas, Texas failed to materialise in August.

“My mandatory title defence could not take place because I was not paid for the previous bout. Efforts by my manager to have the matter sorted out were futile thus the decision to cancel the fight,” Zarika said in September before leaving for her training camp in the US.

The trip is sponsored by bookmakers SportPesa.

Zarika, who has a record of 28 wins, two draws and 12 defeats, dethroned Ashley as the WBC champion through a split-points decision last October at the Dort Federal Event Centre in Flint in Michigan, US to advance her record to 29 wins (12 via knockout), two draws and 12 defeats.

Zarika’s next opponent, Phiri who is preparing for the big fight in Lusaka has the quality to stretch her to her limits when they face off at the Carnivore Gardens.

After losing her WBC bantamweight belt against Mexican Mariana ‘Barby’ Juarez in May, Phiri is ready and raring to return, but now one division higher in what promises to be a brutal contest that will be the highlight of a fight card that will feature eight bouts.

As a young boxing prospect growing up in rough neighbourhoods of Nairobi, Zarika did not imagine one day she would be training in the US and rubbing shoulders with boxing icons such as former world heavyweight champion, ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson whom she met during her first stint in Las Vegas in June.

She grew up in the sprawling estates of Riruta Satellite before she moved to Mathare North after her mother passed away.

Zarika was raised by parents of modest means and had to fend for herself from an early age at the Mukuru kwa Njenga slum in Nairobi’s Industrial Area.

The turning point for her came when she watched Laila Ali, the daughter of the late boxing legend, Mohammed Ali, punch opponents into submission. She then turned to boxing and started training at Mathare 4A Gym under coach and cousin, Joseph Okusimba in 2000. 

The following year, Zarika turned professional and was signed up by Caleb Kuya, a former Kenyan international. She became known in the boxing circles in 2003 when she won two fights inside a week and announced her presence as a main challenger to Conjestina ‘Hands of Stone’ Achieng, the first Kenyan female boxing world champion.

On October 12, she won a four-round decision over Rukken Koronoso of South Africa. A week later, she out-boxed Esther Herkole in Nairobi and the following month, she claimed her first TKO when she floored the former in a rematch.

That set the stage for the most anticipated showdown against Achieng on December 13, 2003 at a packed Nyayo National Stadium where the two local stars slugged out to a four-round draw, perhaps a most fitting outcome.

On March 25, 2005 at Nyayo Stadium, Zarika TKO’d Jasmin Kneiss of Germany in the fourth round of a scheduled six-rounder for her first victory over a European opponent.

Her first fight abroad came when she traveled to Denmark to face amateur star Frida Wallberg of Sweden for the vacant WIBF Intercontinental Junior Lightweight title where she surrendered to a first pro defeat when the lost in a unanimous decision.

With her boxing career taking her to places she could only dream of, Zarika put her marriage on hold and maintains she fights for her two girls.

“Female boxers are like any other women. I’m a proud and responsible mother who knows how to juggle the family and game. I have in the past talked about not prioritising marriage, as I was just starting out and needed to fully concentrate on my career.

“I however, prefer to keep that part of my life private for now,” she once told Standard Digital Entertainment.

Victory for Zarika on December 2 will be an early Christmas present for Kenyans who have endured a difficult year occasioned by the political slugfest that has split the nation.