Fatuma “Iron Fist” Zarika retained her Super bantamweight title during Nairobi Fight Night Season two held at Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).
The reigning World Boxing Council (WBC)was, for the second time crowned Nairobi Fight Night by surviving a furious assault from Zambian challenger, Catherine Phiri to retain her title with a unanimous 3-0 victory.
The rematch comes after two years when Zarika won against Phiri as the results by judges, Michael Neequaye, Fillemon Mweya and Irene Semakula returning 98-92 99-91 97-93 to spark wild celebrations among the home crowd on a hot Nairobi night.
The home girl came out and the venue erupted and when the bell went for the opening round, both combatants seized each other up with the Zambian, who was keen on revenging her 3-0 defeat on unanimous decision in 2017.
Zarika scored 3-0 (79-73, 79-73 and 77-75) on all the judges’ cards.
Local boxing royalty mingled with other important guests to witness the spectacle unfold and none worked the energy at the packed venue as much as former World Boxing Union champion and pioneering Kenyan boxing queen, Conjestina ‘Hands of Stone’ Achieng’ who was among the earliest guests at the KICC dome that sat a punishing attitude of 5,500 feet.
British boxing star and former WBC men Cruiserweight champion, Tony ‘The Bomber’ Bellew, who was part of the Zarika coaching team in the United Kingdom, arrived in venue in time to cheer on his new found friend as he continued his maiden tour to the country with Nairobi Women Representative, Esther Passaris as well as Captain Ronald Karauri the Chief Executive Officer of entertainment and technology business, SportPesa, who organised the festival among the other notable chief guests.
Additional information Sportpesanews.com