Against All Odds: The Fatuma Zarika Story- Part 8
7th September 2018
All of her hard-work and tireless efforts paid off in the end when she was named the SportPesa Brand Ambassador
- Only one day is left until she enters the ring to defend her belt against the young Mexican Yamileth Mercado
- Fatuma 'Iron Fist' Zarika rose from the tough streets of Nairobi to the WBC Super Bantamweight champion of the world
- Her tireless efforts began to pay off and her talents were noticed by Africa's leading gaming firm, SportPesa
NAIROBI, Kenya- The inspiring story of how Fatuma 'Iron Fist' Zarika rose from the tough streets of Nairobi to become the WBC Super Bantamweight champion of the world reaches its climax with the eighth part of the series.
With a day left before she enters the ring to defend her belt against the young and inexperienced Mexican Yamileth Mercado, Zarika explains how her tireless efforts began to pay off when her immense talent came to the attention of Africa's leading gaming firm, SportPesa.
The
previous parts of the series can be found via the following links, Part
1, 2,
3,
4,
5,
6
and 7
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
Zarika's fortunes changed when she was named a brand ambassador for SportPesa who were captivated by her moving rise from the doldrums to a world champion.
The partnership with Zarika is part of the firm's sports development drive that seeks to leverage on its global partnerships to expose local talent to the international arena.
Under the initiative, Zarika trained for the first time in United States before facing Catherine Phiri and United Kingdom ahead of her fight with Mercado.
“It’s almost two years now as part of the SportPesa family and it has been nothing short of amazing.
"All they are doing and have done to better my career has been more than anyone or any institution has done since I began boxing 15 years ago and for that I will forever be grateful,” Zarika revealed.
Last year in December Phiri came to Kenya to challenge Zarika for the WBC World Super-bantamweight title fight organised by Las Vegas-based Bigger Than Life Entertainment.
The build-up to that fight saw Zarika travel to America twice where she got to meet boxing icons such as Mike 'Iron' Tyson and on her return home, she went hard to beat Phiri in a bruising battle having seen an earlier planned re-match in New York against Alicia Ashley cancelled in June.
When her fight against Mercado was announced, Zarika packed her bags again, this time to Liverpool to join the 4 Corners Combat and Fitness Gym on the recommendation of former British WBC featherweight champion, Tony Bellew.
Bellew is an ambassador of Everton FC, the English Premier League side where SportPesa are the proud title partners illustrating how leverage on the bookmakers' global portfolio came to benefit a talent born and bred in Kenya.
Besides footing the huge costs of her training, Zarika has worked with SportPesa to give up to the community she hailed from and in the run-up to the fight, she toured Mathare and donated boxing equipment to the boxing club where it all started for her.
Then, the Mathare Social Hall Boxing Gym was a dilapidated structure with peeling paint but on Tuesday (September 4) when Zarika toured with Tanzanian celebrity and former Big Brother Africa winner, Idriss Sultan, the transformation of the facility was there for all to see.