Ashley preps for title with win

With a world title fight on the horizon, former World Boxing Council Super bantamweight champion Alicia Ashley scored an impressive unanimous decision over Liliana Martinez from the Dominican Republic, at the Karibe Conference Centre in Haiti last Friday night. Ashley, who is slated to fight champion Fatuma Zarika for the title within the next 90 days, told The Gleaner, "I used this fight as a warm-up for my title fight, which is to take place soon, and I was pleased with my performance."

The fight against Martinez, who is an experienced boxer with a 20-17 record, was part of a six-fight, four-title fight card put on by promoter Jacques Deschamps, and was over six rounds. The scores for Ashley were 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55. In a re-cap of the fight, Ashley said that following a long period of training for the title fight, which should originally have taken place at the end of February, she was hoping to have had at least an eight-round contest last Friday, but with so many title fights on the card, she could only be allotted six rounds.

"I made good use of it, however," she stated. "I started off much faster than usual, and found my rhythm quickly. I was able to score freely, and my body shots were right on target. Liliana is a very competent boxer and I had to be careful, but I was able to get the job done. I am happy with my performance. My focus now will be on the title fight. The promoter and Zarika's camp are having discussions, and hopefully, we will know the date and venue before the end of April," she added.