Mdantsane boxing hero Zolani Tete is disappointed by the sudden demotion of his fight at Echo Arena in Liverpool where he was initially scheduled to fight for a world title on June 4.
Tete was scheduled to challenge Zhanat Zhakiyanov of Kazakhstan for the WBA interim bantamweight title in a fight promoted by his new English promoter Frank Warren.
The fight was to serve as an undercard to the WBO world junior-middleweight title defence by British star Liam Smith against a challenger yet to be announced.
However, Zhakiyanov suddenly withdrew leaving Tete high and dry just when he was busy preparing for the fight in Johannesburg where he has been in camp for the past two weeks.
No word has been forwarded to his camp regarding the withdrawal with his manager Mla Tengimfene saying Warren only informed him that the Kazakhstani developed cold feet.
But Tete will still fight on the card although he will now be defending his IBF international crown he won at the same venue this past March when he stopped Mexican Jose Santos Gonzalez in seven rounds.
Tengimfene confirmed that the southpaw boxer was deflated by the turn of events.
“Zolani knew that this fight would take him towards his goal of unifying the world titles in the division,’’ he said.
But with his growing stature in the world, Tete is gradually becoming the avoided opponent by most top boxers.
Tengimfene admitted that he was never really sure about Zhakiyanov’s guts to step into the ring with the Mdantsane dynamo.
“What I have learnt in this game is that you can only know if the fight is really taking place when the first bell sounds for the start of the bout. So at the back of my mind I expected everything.”
Tete has now gotten past the disappointment and is now putting extra work at the camp where he is again housed by the former PSL boss Andile “Ace” Ncobo.
“We are still fighting in the tournament so it is imperative that we put on a good performance so sucking over Zhakiyanov will not help us,” he said.
No opponent has been found as yet for Tete but whoever he will be “Last Born” is confident of putting him away as he has done in all his UK ring appearances.
The strategy now is for Tete to work towards a mandatory spot in order to force world champions in the division to defend against him.
“There is no way that any of the champions will choose him as a voluntary defence so we must just be patient and secure a mandatory spot to force them to fight Zolani,” Tengimfene continued.
There was a surprise when Zhakiyanov reportedly agreed to the fight especially in the light of him being advised by Philippe Fondu, who is in some sort of a tiff with Tengimfene over Tete’s purse in his IBF world title winning fight over Paul Butler in March last year.
However, there are also reports that Zhakiyanov is struggling with weight and is no longer able to fight in the bantamweight anymore.
Interestingly, Butler will also feature in the fight against Thai Petchbarngborn Kokietgym for the WBO junior-bantamweight title eliminator.
‘Last Born’ gets body blow in UK
Tete was scheduled to challenge Zhanat Zhakiyanov of Kazakhstan for the WBA interim bantamweight title in a fight promoted by his new English promoter Frank Warren.
The fight was to serve as an undercard to the WBO world junior-middleweight title defence by British star Liam Smith against a challenger yet to be announced.
However, Zhakiyanov suddenly withdrew leaving Tete high and dry just when he was busy preparing for the fight in Johannesburg where he has been in camp for the past two weeks.
No word has been forwarded to his camp regarding the withdrawal with his manager Mla Tengimfene saying Warren only informed him that the Kazakhstani developed cold feet.
But Tete will still fight on the card although he will now be defending his IBF international crown he won at the same venue this past March when he stopped Mexican Jose Santos Gonzalez in seven rounds.
Tengimfene confirmed that the southpaw boxer was deflated by the turn of events.
“Zolani knew that this fight would take him towards his goal of unifying the world titles in the division,’’ he said.
But with his growing stature in the world, Tete is gradually becoming the avoided opponent by most top boxers.
Tengimfene admitted that he was never really sure about Zhakiyanov’s guts to step into the ring with the Mdantsane dynamo.
“What I have learnt in this game is that you can only know if the fight is really taking place when the first bell sounds for the start of the bout. So at the back of my mind I expected everything.”
Tete has now gotten past the disappointment and is now putting extra work at the camp where he is again housed by the former PSL boss Andile “Ace” Ncobo.
“We are still fighting in the tournament so it is imperative that we put on a good performance so sucking over Zhakiyanov will not help us,” he said.
No opponent has been found as yet for Tete but whoever he will be “Last Born” is confident of putting him away as he has done in all his UK ring appearances.
The strategy now is for Tete to work towards a mandatory spot in order to force world champions in the division to defend against him.
“There is no way that any of the champions will choose him as a voluntary defence so we must just be patient and secure a mandatory spot to force them to fight Zolani,” Tengimfene continued.
There was a surprise when Zhakiyanov reportedly agreed to the fight especially in the light of him being advised by Philippe Fondu, who is in some sort of a tiff with Tengimfene over Tete’s purse in his IBF world title winning fight over Paul Butler in March last year.
However, there are also reports that Zhakiyanov is struggling with weight and is no longer able to fight in the bantamweight anymore.
Interestingly, Butler will also feature in the fight against Thai Petchbarngborn Kokietgym for the WBO junior-bantamweight title eliminator.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos