Zolani Tete obit

Boxing champ Zolani Tete shot dead in Mdantsane

 

He was not on the list.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — Former world champion boxer Zolani Tete has been shot and killed at his home in South Africa, government officials said Friday.

Gayton McKenzie, South Africa’s sports, arts and culture minister, said the 38-year-old Tete was killed in his car and that a 27-year-old woman who was in the vehicle with him was shot multiple times and is in hospital.

Tete held world title belts in the WBF flyweight category from 2007-2008 and the WBO bantamweight title in 2017 and 2019.

Police said the shooting took place at Mdantsane, Eastern Cape and that Tete was arriving at his residence and waiting for the gate to open when he was ambushed by two armed suspects wearing balaclavas.

He held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-bantamweight title from 2014 to 2015 and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight title from 2017 to 2019.

Tete held the Guinness World Record for the fastest knockout in a title fight in boxing history, knocking out Siboniso Gonya in eleven seconds of the opening round.

Tete grew up in the Mdantsane township. He had a rough childhood. His father was a pastor. He and his brother, Makazole, took up boxing when Zolani was eight. Tete looked up to South African former world champions Vuyani Bungu and Welcome Ncita while in the unpaid ranks. Tete would later be trained by Bungu. He claimed to have had over 400 amateur bouts, only three of which were losses, as an amateur he fought Hekkie Budler former WBA world minifly and WBA and IBF World junior flyweight champion and The Ring champ two times in the South African national games Tete won one and lost one to Hekkie.

ete made his professional debut in May 2006., where he won his first 8 fights by stoppage. In his eighth bout he won the WBF flyweight 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 (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 (TKO).

fter 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 (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 seemed 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 were not any point deductions made.

In November 2013, Tete fought 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.

Tete vs. Kinoshita

Solís beat Kameda, but he also lost his title on the scales, leaving the IBF title vacant. Tete faced Teiru Kinoshita 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. Tete went on to sign with British promoter Frank Warren in December 2015