The South African national female lightweight boxing champion, Raider "The Earthquake" Muleba, is very confident that she will retain her national belt when she trades punches with challenger Bonita van Jaarsveld at the Emerald Casino in the Free State on Saturday, 12 August.
After a rigorous training session on Tuesday, Muleba said van Jaarsveld was going to pay for the previous fight's cancellation on 28 April. "I signed a contract to defend my title against van Jaarsveld at Meropa Casino in April, but the tournament was cancelled two days before the fight. I was so upset that I nearly hung up my boxing gloves. Now I am going to hit her so hard to defend my title," she said.
Muleba and Van Jaarsveld have fought against each other three times before. "We drew in our first fight, then she won the second fight, and I won the third fight. It's going to be war in the ring this time. She is not a weakling, but I am now a champion and have improved tremendously. I do my sparring with male boxers in the gym, and I have never been so fit before a fight. She is about to see why I am called The Earthquake," she said.
Meanwhile, her training manager, Mr. John "Smoking Joe" Nemakonde, concurred with Muleba, saying that Van Jaarsveld would never beat the champion. "She (Muleba) is spitting fire after what had happened with the cancellation of their fight in Polokwane. We worked very, very hard for this fight. In fact, she will defend this belt more than five times until we move on to another division. At present, she is in her own class," he said.