Zolani “Last Born” Tete embarks on a journey towards winning his fourth world boxing title in four weight divisions.
The former WBF flyweight, IBF junior bantamweight and WBO bantamweight holder takes on Commonwealth and IBF International junior featherweight champ Jason Cunningham at Wembley Arena in England on July 2.
Tete’s accomplished English boxing promoter Frank Warren – the International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee – wants his charge to redeem himself and also introduce himself in the new weight division by winning the two titles.
Tete has not fought against a credible opponent since his three rounds knockout loss of his WBO bantamweight title by Johnriel Casimero in 2019.
Tete met average opponent Iddy Kayumba, the Tanzanian who went down in 53 seconds in November last year.
It is a must win fight for the South African and victory will make it a lot easier for Warren to engage with sanctioning bodies, especially the New Jersey, US-based IBF, to consider rewarding him with the No 11 ranking, which is occupied by Cunningham.
Tete began working with Warren in 2016 and the left-handed local fighter later won the WBO bantamweight belt. In one of his defences, he blasted Siboniso Gonya in 11 seconds, registering the quickest title defence ever.
Tete then took part in the World Boxing Super Series tournament but withdrew going into the semifinals due to an injury. Warren has told BoxingScene.com that he won a big purse bid to stage Tete’s mandatory defence against John Riel Casimero and the Filipino dethroned the champion.
It is unclear if that was due to Tete alleged battles with the scales but Warren says what he does know is that his charge is jumping up to the junior featherweight division. “We will see if the old Tete magic is still there,” he told BoxingScene.Com.
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