Zolani Tete

 ( 1988 Births ) 

Zolani Tete (born 8 March 1988) is a South African professional boxer. He is a former two-weight world champion, having held the IBF junior-bantamweight title from 2014 to 2015 and the WBO bantamweight title from 2017 to 2019.

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Early life and amateur career Tete grew up in the Mdantsane 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 and Welcome Ncita 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, as amateur he met Hekkie Budler former WBA world minify and WBA and IBF World junior flyweight champion and The Ring champ theytwo times in South African national games Tete won one and lost one to Hekkie.

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Professional career

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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 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).

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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 (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 Unified champion 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 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.

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Bantamweight Tete made his bantamweight debut in 2016. In his third fight at the weight, Tete claimed the WBO interim 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.

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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.

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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.

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Tete vs. Donaire cancellation Tete was scheduled to face Nonito Donaire on April 27, 2019, but pulled out of the fight due to a shoulder injury.

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Tete vs. Casimero In his next bout, Tete fought former world champion John Riel Casimero. Casimero dropped Tete twice before the referee waved the fight off in the third round and awarded Casimero the TKO win.

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Doping ban In August 2023, Tete was issued with a four-year ban for an anti-doping rule violation after testing positive for stanozolol. The ban is set to end in July 2026.

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Professional boxing record

34	NC	29–4	Jason Cunningham	NC	4 (12)	2 Jul 2022
33	Win	29–4	Iddi Kayumba	KO	1 (10),	12 Dec 2021
32	Loss	28–4	John Riel Casimero	TKO	3 (12),	30 Nov 2019
31	Win	28–3	Mikhail Aloyan	UD	12	13 Oct 2018
30	Win	27–3	Omar Narváez	UD	12	21 Apr 2018
29	Win	26–3	Siboniso Gonya	TKO	1 (12),	18 Nov 2017
28	Win	25–3	Arthur Villanueva	UD	12	22 Apr 2017
27	Win	24–3	Victor Ruiz	TKO	7 (12),	4 Jun 2016
26	Win	23–3	José Santos González	TKO	7 (12),	12 Mar 2016
25	Win	22–3	Jether Oliva	UD	12	19 Dec 2015
24	Win	21–3	Diuhl Olguín	TKO	8 (10),	4 Sep 2015
23	Win	20–3	Paul Butler	TKO	8 (12),	6 Mar 2015
22	Win	19–3	Teiru Kinoshita	UD	12	18 Jul 2014
21	Win	18–3	Juan Carlos Sánchez Jr.	KO	10 (12),	30 Nov 2013
20	Win	17–3	Eduard Penerio	KO	1 (8),	23 Mar 2013
19	Loss	16–3	Roberto Sosa		12	1 Sep 2012
18	Win	16–2	Siphiwo Ntsangani	KO	1 (8),	30 Mar 2012
17	Loss	15–2	Juan Alberto Rosas		12	26 Nov 2011
16	Win	15–1	Olebogeng Motseki	TKO	7 (8),	11 Jun 2011
15	Win	14–1	Sipho Nkadimeng	KO	1 (8),	17 Dec 2010
14	Loss	13–1	Moruti Mthalane	TKO	5 (12),	1 Sep 2010
13	Win	13–0	Richard Garcia	UD	12	26 Feb 2010
12	Win	12–0	Anthony Mathias	KO	1 (12),	20 Nov 2009
11	Win	11–0	Rexon Flores	KO	1 (10),	29 Mar 2009
10	Win	10–0	Francis Miyeyusho	TKO	1 (12),	29 Jun 2008
9	Win	9–0	Xolani Ntese		12	30 Mar 2008
8	Win	8–0	Vicky Tahumil		4 (12),	23 Sep 2007
7	Win	7–0	Wiseman Kega	KO	1 (6)	1 Apr 2007
6	Win	6–0	Vuyo Toyise		1 (6),	4 Mar 2007
5	Win	5–0	Zukile Toko	TKO	5 (6)	9 Dec 2006
4	Win	4–0	Mthutuzeli Funde	TKO	1 (6),	7 Oct 2006
3	Win	3–0	Xolile Ngemntu	TKO	1 (6),	19 Aug 2006
2	Win	2–0	Thembinkosi Tywantsi	TKO	1 (4),	22 Jul 2006
1	Win	1–0	Andile Solani		1 (4),	27 May 2006

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See also

• List of southpaw stance boxers
• List of world super-flyweight boxing champions
• List of world bantamweight boxing champions

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External links

• Zolani Tete - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live

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