Manger Mla Thengimfene has denied any knowledge of East London world champion boxer Zolani “Last Born” Tete’s dire living conditions ahead of his title defence next month.While Tete’s training arrangements are sound – he is again training at Stanley Ndlovu’s gym like he did before beating Japan’s Teiru Kinoshita in July last year – his living arrangements for his high-altitude Johannesburg camp leave a lot to be desired.
The junior bantamweight champion, who lives in Mdantsane, is shacked up in an unfurnished room in an Orange Grove house in which the other rooms are inhabited by families.
Tete is staying with all three of his sparring partners for his camp – Thabo Sonjica, Mfusi Maxhayi and Bongani Silila – in a room in which they sleep on single-bed sponge mattresses on the floor.
A stench greets you from the gate of the dirty house. Their room is littered with clothes, shoes and training equipment, and the room is no bigger than a prison cell. Tete, who defends his title against Paul Butler on March 6, sought to play down the fact that a world champion had to make do with such shabby arrangements by claiming there had been a misunderstanding.
“We discovered on our arrival a week ago the place we were supposed to occupy had been taken by other people,” he explained.
“We got this room through (trainer) Phumzile Matyhila. He knows somebody who trains at Nick Durandt’s gym who also rents a room here.
“Our manager will arrive tomorrow .”
Thengimfene distanced himself from how his fighter ended up at the house.
“I don’t know the place. They are the ones who chose it.
“I wonder why they misled me, but I am going to Johannesburg to sort it out.”
Tete, 26, is rated No4 by Ring Magazine and is the only SA boxer to hold a respected IBF title.
He has promised to buy his mother, whose leg was amputated due to complications with diabetes, a prosthetic leg as she struggles to walk.
Boxing champ’s camp of squalor
The junior bantamweight champion, who lives in Mdantsane, is shacked up in an unfurnished room in an Orange Grove house in which the other rooms are inhabited by families.
Tete is staying with all three of his sparring partners for his camp – Thabo Sonjica, Mfusi Maxhayi and Bongani Silila – in a room in which they sleep on single-bed sponge mattresses on the floor.
A stench greets you from the gate of the dirty house. Their room is littered with clothes, shoes and training equipment, and the room is no bigger than a prison cell. Tete, who defends his title against Paul Butler on March 6, sought to play down the fact that a world champion had to make do with such shabby arrangements by claiming there had been a misunderstanding.
“We discovered on our arrival a week ago the place we were supposed to occupy had been taken by other people,” he explained.
“We got this room through (trainer) Phumzile Matyhila. He knows somebody who trains at Nick Durandt’s gym who also rents a room here.
“Our manager will arrive tomorrow .”
Thengimfene distanced himself from how his fighter ended up at the house.
“I don’t know the place. They are the ones who chose it.
“I wonder why they misled me, but I am going to Johannesburg to sort it out.”
Tete, 26, is rated No4 by Ring Magazine and is the only SA boxer to hold a respected IBF title.
He has promised to buy his mother, whose leg was amputated due to complications with diabetes, a prosthetic leg as she struggles to walk.
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