You can't let fear stop you fighting - Ali

Ramla Ali suffered her first defeat against Julissa Alejandra Guzman in June

Ramla Ali insists she is a seasoned pro at overcoming challenges as she prepares for a rematch against Julissa Alejandra Guzman on Saturday.

The shock defeat was the first of Ali's career, and the Somalia-born Briton says she had no doubts about an immediate rematch in Monte Carlo.

"My whole life has sort of been riddled with challenges," Ali said.

"You cannot let fear keep you from doing what you want to do and keep you from achieving your goals and your dreams."

Ali, who has eight wins and that single defeat on her professional record, fled war-torn Somalia as a child for Great Britain and has since become an Olympian, activist and model as well as a pro boxer.

Guzman, 26, produced an upset to beat Ali, dropping her in rounds five and eight before Ali was counted out from the second knockdown.

The Mexican looked to intimidate Ali during the face-off at the news conference in Monte Carlo on Thursday.

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Guzman kissed both her fists and moved right in front of Ali's chin, before moving her head towards her opponent's. Ali did not flinch, and laughed as security pulled Guzman back.

"It's a huge fight for me," Ali said. "A lot of people are looking in and saying: 'Why are you jumping back into this rematch?'

"As everyone knows, my back story has been talked about to death and I've had challenges in my personal life and I've had challenges in my sporting life.

"You've just got accept those challenges. I was watching a movie and there was a famous quote that was 'never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game'."

It was the first time in her pro career Ali had been dropped and Guzman - whose record is 13 wins, two defeats and two draws - promised to stop her rival again, and in quicker fashion.

"This is different because I am defending what's mine," she said.

"This makes it more difficult for Ramla, because I know you're going to run and I'll be ready to fly at you in the ring.

"I will make good on my promise to knock you out."

Ali and Guzman fight on the undercard of Joe Cordina's world title defence against American Edward Vazquez.

Vazquez (15-1) challenges for Cordina's IBF super-featherweight title and is an underdog against the 31-year-old Welshman.

"It's a big opportunity for him," Cordina said of Vazquez.

"He's going to bring the heat, but I'm ready to match whatever he brings. No one said I had power, then I knocked out [Kenichi] Ogawa.

"Then they said he can only look pretty, then I showed [against Shavkat Rakhimov] I can dig down.

"If you come into the gym and see how I train and spar, I do that on the daily.

"That's the only fight in my pro career where I've had to get out of first gear, is that Rakhimov fight."