Zolani Tete

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.

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.^[1]

Professional career[]

Flyweight[]

Tete made his professional debut on 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).^[2] Tete went on to face Moruti Mthalane for the IBF flyweight title, suffering his first loss with a round 5 technical knockout (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 (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.^[3]

On 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.^[4]

Solís would beat Kameda, but he also lost his title on the scales, leaving the IBF title vacant. Tete would face Teiru Kinoshita on July 2014 for the vacant title, winning a comfortable unanimous decision (119–109, 119–109, 118–110).^[5] After one successful defence, he chose to vacate the title rather than fight mandatory challenger McJoe Arroyo.^[6] Tete went on to sign with British promoter Frank Warren on December 2015.^[7]

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.^[8] Tete was later elevated to full champion by the WBO.^[9]

Tete vs. Narvaez[]

On April 21, 2018, Tete defended his WBO belt against Omar Narvaez, who was WBO #1 ranked contender at the time.^[10] 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.^[11]

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.^[12]

Professional boxing record[]

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
32	Loss	28–4	John Riel Casimero	TKO	3 (12), 2:14	30 Nov 2019	Arena Birmingham, Birmingham, England	Lost WBO bantamweight title
31	Win	28–3	Mikhail Aloyan	UD	12	13 Oct 2018	Expo Center, Yekaterinburg, Russia	Retained WBO bantamweight title; World Boxing Super Series: bantamweight quarter-final
30	Win	27–3	Omar Narváez	UD	12	21 Apr 2018	SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Retained WBO bantamweight title
29	Win	26–3	Siboniso Gonya	TKO	1 (12), 0:11	18 Nov 2017	SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Retained WBO bantamweight title
28	Win	25–3	Arthur Villanueva	UD	12	22 Apr 2017	Leicester Arena, Leicester, England	Won WBO interim bantamweight title
27	Win	24–3	Victor Ruiz	TKO	7 (12), 0:50	4 Jun 2016	Echo Arena, Liverpool, England	Won IBF International bantamweight title
26	Win	23–3	José Santos González	TKO	7 (12), 2:37	12 Mar 2016	Echo Arena, Liverpool, England
25	Win	22–3	Jether Oliva	UD	12	19 Dec 2015	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa	Won vacant WBO Africa junior-bantamweight title
24	Win	21–3	Diuhl Olguín	TKO	8 (10), 1:52	4 Sep 2015	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa
23	Win	20–3	Paul Butler	TKO	8 (12), 1:34	6 Mar 2015	Echo Arena, Liverpool, England	Retained IBF junior-bantamweight title
22	Win	19–3	Teiru Kinoshita	UD	12	18 Jul 2014	Portopia Hotel, Kobe, Japan	Won vacant IBF junior-bantamweight title
21	Win	18–3	Juan Carlos Sánchez Jr.	KO	10 (12), 2:43	30 Nov 2013	Auditorio del Estado, Mexicali, Mexico
20	Win	17–3	Eduard Penerio	KO	1 (8), 2:37	23 Mar 2013	Carnival City Casino, Brakpan, South Africa
19	Loss	16–3	Roberto Sosa	SD	12	1 Sep 2012	Polideportivo Municipal Carlos Cerutti, Córdoba, Argentina
18	Win	16–2	Siphiwo Ntsangani	KO	1 (8), 0:34	30 Mar 2012	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa
17	Loss	15–2	Juan Alberto Rosas	MD	12	26 Nov 2011	Plaza de Toros, Mazatlán, Mexico
16	Win	15–1	Olebogeng Motseki	TKO	7 (8), 2:24	11 Jun 2011	Carnival City, Brakpan, South Africa
15	Win	14–1	Sipho Nkadimeng	KO	1 (8), 2:20	17 Dec 2010	Gompo Hall, East London, South Africa
14	Loss	13–1	Moruti Mthalane	TKO	5 (12), 2:27	1 Sep 2010	Carnival City, Brakpan, South Africa	For IBF flyweight title
13	Win	13–0	Richard Garcia	UD	12	26 Feb 2010	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa
12	Win	12–0	Anthony Mathias	KO	1 (12), 2:38	20 Nov 2009	Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa	Won vacant WBO Africa flyweight title
11	Win	11–0	Rexon Flores	KO	1 (10), 0:28	29 Mar 2009	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa
10	Win	10–0	Francis Miyeyusho	TKO	1 (12), 2:24	29 Jun 2008	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa	Retained WBF flyweight title
9	Win	9–0	Xolani Ntese	UD	12	30 Mar 2008	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa	Retained WBF flyweight title
8	Win	8–0	Vicky Tahumil	RTD	4 (12), 3:00	23 Sep 2007	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa	Won vacant WBF flyweight title
7	Win	7–0	Wiseman Kega	KO	1 (6)	1 Apr 2007	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa
6	Win	6–0	Vuyo Toyise	KO	1 (6), 1:30	4 Mar 2007	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa
5	Win	5–0	Zukile Toko	TKO	5 (6)	9 Dec 2006	Indoor Centre, Mdantsane, South Africa
4	Win	4–0	Mthutuzeli Funde	TKO	1 (6), 1:44	7 Oct 2006	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa
3	Win	3–0	Xolile Ngemntu	TKO	1 (6), 0:10	19 Aug 2006	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa
2	Win	2–0	Thembinkosi Tywantsi	TKO	1 (4), 0:52	22 Jul 2006	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa
1	Win	1–0	Andile Solani	TKO	1 (4), 1:39	27 May 2006	Orient Theatre, East London, South Africa

See also[]

• List of super-flyweight boxing champions
• List of bantamweight boxing champions

References[]

External links[]

• Boxing record for Zolani Tete from BoxRec
• Zolani Tete - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live