Zolani Tete (born 8 March 1988) is a South African

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. He is a former two-weight world champion, having held the IBF junior-bantamweight title from 2014 to 2015 and the WBO

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...

title from 2017 to 2019.

Early life and amateur career

Tete grew up in the

Mdantsane Mdantsane is a South African urban township situated 15 km away from East London, Eastern Cape, East London and 37 km away from King William's Town, Qonce in the Eastern Cape. It is the second largest township in the Eastern Cape after ...

township. He had a rough childhood. His father was a pastor. Him and his brother, Makazole, took up boxing when Zolani was eight. Tete looked up to South African former world champions

Vuyani Bungu Vuyani Bungu (born 26 February 1967) is a South African former professional boxer who competed from 1987 to 2005. He held the International Boxing Federation, IBF junior-featherweight title from 1994 to 1999, and the International Boxing Organ ...

and

Welcome Ncita Welcome Ncita (born 21 October 1965) is a retired professional boxer and former IBF Super Bantamweight Champion. Known as "The Hawk", Ncita turned professional in 1984 and in 1990 captured the International Boxing Federation Super Bantamweight ...

while in the unpaid ranks. Tete would later be trained by Bungu. He claims to have over 400 amateur fights, only three of which were losses.

Professional career

Flyweight

Tete made his professional debut in May 2006. He won his first 8 fights by stoppage. In his eighth bout he won the WBF

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of b ...

title, which he defended twice. Tete earned a shot at a major world title for the first time, beating Richard Garcia in a title eliminator by

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...

(118-108, 118–108, 118–110). Tete went on to face Moruti Mthalane for the IBF flyweight title, suffering his first loss with a round 5

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...

(TKO).

Junior bantamweight

After the loss to Mthalane, Tete moved up to junior-bantamweight. He received another opportunity to fight in an IBF eliminator, but lost a

majority decision A majority decision (MD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking. In a majority decision, two of the three judges agree on whi ...

(112–115, 112–115, 113–113) to Juan Alberto Rosas. After a bounce-back win, Tete fought in yet another eliminator but lost by split decision (113–115, 114–115, 115–114) to Roberto Sosa. Tete seem to befuddle Sosa with his length early on, but as the fight went on Sosa surged and earned the nod. Sosa received a warning due to low blows but there was no point deductions. In November 2013, Tete would fight in a third IBF junior-bantamweight eliminator against former champion Juan Carlos Sánchez Jr. Sánchez had lost the IBF title due to coming in overweight against Sosa, thus leaving the title vacant after beating Sosa. The winner would be the IBF's mandatory challenger to the winner of the Liborio Solís- Daiki Kameda unification bout. Tete knocked down Sánchez in round five before being dropped himself in round six. After being knocked down, Tete resorted to excessive holding, losing points in rounds eight and nine. However, he was able to put Sánchez away in round ten. Solís would beat Kameda, but he also lost his title on the scales, leaving the IBF title vacant. Tete would face

Teiru Kinoshita Teiru Kinoshita (born Park Tae-Il on December 17, 1985 in Osaka, Japan) is a Japanese-Korean boxer. Kinoshita is a former Japanese super flyweight champion. In 2014, he lost to Zolani Tete for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) supe ...

in July 2014 for the vacant title, winning a comfortable unanimous decision (119–109, 119–109, 118–110). After one successful defence, he chose to vacate the title rather than fight mandatory challenger

McJoe Arroyo McJoe Arroyo Acevedo (born December 5, 1985) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer who held the IBF junior bantamweight title from 2015 to 2016. As an amateur, he represented Puerto Rico in international competition, winning a bronze medal at ...

. Tete went on to sign with British promoter Frank Warren in December 2015.

Bantamweight

Tete made his

debut in 2016. In his third fight at the weight, Tete claimed the WBO

interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

by beating Arthur Villanueva. Tete won a wide unanimous decision (120–107, 119–108, 119–108), dropping Villanueva in round eleven. Tete was later elevated to full champion by the WBO.

Tete vs. Narvaez

On April 21, 2018, Tete defended his WBO belt against Omar Narvaez, who was WBO #1 ranked contender at the time. In a highly unexciting bout, Tete still manage to get a unanimous decision victory, winning 120–108 on all three scorecards.

Tete vs. Aloyan

In his next title defense, Tete faced Mikhail Aloyan, ranked #5 by the WBA and #6 by the WBO. Tete won the fight on all three scorecards, 114–111, 114-111 and 114–110.

Tete vs. Donaire cancellation

Tete was scheduled to face

Nonito Donaire Nonito Gonzales Donaire Jr. (; ; born November 16, 1982) is a Filipino American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from flyweight to featherweight, and is the oldest boxer in history to win a ...

on April 27, 2019, but pulled out of the fight due to a shoulder injury.

Tete vs. Casimero

In his next bout, Tete fought former world champion

John Riel Casimero John Riel Reponte Casimero (born February 13, 1989) is a Filipino professional boxer and YouTuber. He has held world championships in three weight classes; including the IBF junior-flyweight title from 2012 to 2013; the IBF flyweight title ...

. Casimero dropped Tete twice before the referee waved the fight off in the third round and awarded Casimero the TKO win.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

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Zolani Tete - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
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Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tete, Zolani 1988 births Living people Super-flyweight boxers Flyweight boxers Bantamweight boxers South African male boxers People from the Eastern Cape World super-flyweight boxing champions World bantamweight boxing champions International Boxing Federation champions World Boxing Organization champions Sportspeople from the Eastern Cape