There’s a change of opponent as Sharadene Fortuin will now face off against Thema Zuma when she defends her South African female bantamweight title in Cape Town next month.
After signing a contract to collide with Babalwa Nonqonqotho, Fortuin was told that she couldn’t defend against her because she had lost her last four fights. Now Fortuin will meet Zuma at the Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town on Sunday, 14 December.
This is the second time that Fortuin and Zuma meet inside the ring. Fortuin defeated Zuma in an International Boxing Organisation (IBO) Intercontinental female bantamweight title fight at East London’s Orient Theatre in December 2018.
Seymour-born Fortuin is itching or action as she has not fought since her win over Patience Mastara from Zimbabwe at the Meropa Sun Casino, Polokwane, in September 2023.
Fortuin has been an SA champion since she dethroned now retired boxer Melissa Miller in Augut 2021. And she defended her title twice against the same Miller.
She was due to have made her ring return against Zimbabwean opponent Kudakwashe Chiwandare in an African Boxing (ABU) SADC female bantamweight title fight at the Country Club in Harare, Zimbabwe, in August.
Unfortunately, the fight collapsed after Chiwandare sustained a tibia fracture when her team Scottland played against Harare City Cubs in a Women’s Northern Region Soccer League encounter.
Meanwhile, Zuma, who is a former SA female junior-bantamweight titlist, will be making a second attempt at winning the national bantamweight crown.
Her first attempt failed when she was beaten by former champion Miller, who is now a boxing promoter, at the Nangoza Jebe Hall in New Brighton, Gqeberha, in March 2019.
