Alicia 'Slick' Ashley

World Boxing Council (WBC) super bantamweight champion, Jamaica's Alicia 'Slick' Ashley, will defend her title on October 23 in Tijuana, Mexico against Mexican Zenny Sotomayer. This will be the third title defence for her.

Previously, she defeated Maria Elena Villalobos on March 17, 2012, and then after a long wait for an opponent, she defeated Panama's Chanttal Martinez on April 20 this year. Known for being ring savvy, Ashley, who has a 19-9-1 record has had difficulty finding opponents.

Male boxing champions are always being challenged, but the opposite is true in female boxing, where the champions have to search for opponents. Ashley has discovered this during her reign as champion, which started on July 23, 2011, when she defeated Christina Ruiz in New York to take home the vacant title.

Sotomayer has a 10-5-1 record, and her last fight was an unsuccessful bid to win the International Boxing Federation super bantamweight title. That fight took place on May 13 this year, and she lost to the champion, Kitty Wilson Castillo. In her fight before the title encounter, however, she scored a fourth-round TKO victory over Diana Meraz.

Ashley said she was happy to be getting back into the ring after a six -month break and is confident that she will retain her title. She said that she always keeps herself in fighting shape and will not have to do anything special to be ready for the October date.

" I am ready to go and I hope that my opponent is too, as I would like it to be a good fight."