Zahir Raheem Ready For South African Boxing Foray Against Ali Funeka

Former world title challenger Zahir Raheem feels ready and confident as he enters the final stages of his training camp for his upcoming IBF world lightweight title elimination bout in East London, South Africa against Ali Funeka.

“Zahir knows this will be one of his toughest fights and he will be ready,” said Bobby Dobbs, matchmaker for promoter Tony Holden, Raheem’s promoter. “Obviously, he would have preferred to fight here in the states, but that won’t affect Zahir as he will be ready to fight anywhere.”

According to Dobbs, who is handling the coordination of the event for Raheem and H, because Funeka’s promoter Branco Milenkovic won the purse bid, they were only offered tow airline olden Productionstickets and two hotel rooms for three nights.

“Zahir is ready physically and mentally,”said Dobbs. “We had to make our own travel arrangements and now we are just concentrating on winning. Zahir will be ready.”

Raheem, 29-2 (17), is a former United States Olympian and has also held the NABA/WBC International Championship belts. He is coming off a sensational first round knockout of tough contender Ricardo Dominguez on January 4.

The July 5 bout will be Raheem’s first fight since reuniting with Tony Holden. The winner of the fight will be the mandatory challenger for IBF world champion Nate Campbell.