East and Central Africa super featherweight champion Fatuma Zarika and her counterpart Michael Nyawade found the going tough as they fell to their Belgian opponents over the weekend.

Nyawade was knocked out by homeboy Hedi Slimani, who went on to capture the vacant Global Boxing Union (GBU) super featherweight title.

Nyawade was dropped in round 2 and 3 and twice more from slips earlier in the fight. However, Slimani was deducted a point for hitting his opponent on the floor.

When Nyawade went to a neutral corner at the end of round 3, he was grabbed by his corner man back to his own corner. Referee Daniel Van de Wiele waved the fight off after a brief inspection of the boxer.

Fatuma fought hard to hold on until the final round but saw victory slip through her fingers on points as Delfine Persoon was declared winner.

Persoon eloped with victory with scores of 79-73 and twice 80-72. Persoon is now expected to face Kremena Petkova in a WBC final eliminator.

Despite the loss, Zarika is still holding her head high as she seeks for more fights in the near future."It was not so rosy for us (in Belgium)," said Zarika. "The fight was tough."

She revealed that she is going to resume her training in anticipation of more bouts in the coming months."I want to return to the gym and try to correct on my mistakes. I don't have any match lined up in the near future but I know I will secure as time progresses," said Zarika. She observed that the fight was good learning experience in her career.