Leroy Brown, Star Writer

Jamaica's Alicia Ashley, the World Boxing Council (WBC) super bantamweight champion has broken camp, and told The Gleaner yesterday, that she is 'fit and ready' to face the challenge of Mexican Jackie Navafor for her title on Saturday, in Mexico City, Mexico.

Nava, who previously held this title and also the World Boxing Association (WBA) version, will without doubt be the most impressive and dangerous challenger that Ashley has faced since she won the title on July 23, 2011, with a unanimous decision over Christina Ruiz.

She has had three successful title defences, the first was against Maria Elena Villalobus, the second against Chanttall Martinez, and the third against Zenny Sotomayor, all of which were unanimous decisions. Her last victory was on May 21 this year against Nohime Dennison in a non-title fight.

Ashley, who has a 21-9 record, has been in Mexico for the past three weeks, having gone there early to get acclimatised to the altitude. She said that it was undoubtedly a good decision, because for the first week she had a lot of trouble with both the weather, which was very cold, and the altitude.

"All of that is behind me now. My training has gone very well and I am now looking forward to Saturday," she stated confidently.

She has been based in Toluca, Mexico, for the past few weeks and moved to Mexico City on Monday. She said that she met her opponent for the first time briefly on Monday, but added, "We will be seeing a lot of each other over the next few days as there is a lot of publicity for the fight and we will be doing several appearances together."

Nava, who was away from boxing for a year for maternity reasons, had a warm-up fight on May 24, and won impressively with a seventh-round knockout victory over Alys Sanchez. She is known as the 'Aztec Princess' by her adoring fans and goes into the fight with an impressive 29-4-3 record with 13 knockouts.

Her aim on Saturday she says is to regain the title she won on January 1, 2006, by defeating Kelsey Jeffries on points, and then lost four months later on May 20, 2006 to Alejandra Marina Oliveres by knockout. She has publicly promised her fans a great fight.