Mdantsane boxer Zolani Tete is set to become one of the richest boxers ever produced in the country after agreeing to new contractual terms with his English promoters.
Tete was expected to fly to England to thrash out terms for his contract renewal but ended up meeting George Warren of Queensberry Promotion (QP) - his English promoters - who happened to be in Cape Town for a vacation and business.
The 29-year-old left-hander is promoted by QP boss Frank Warren whose tournaments are exclusively shown on BoxNation, a budding television network.
While both parties were tight-lipped about financial terms reached, it is obvious that Tete will follow in the footsteps of a very select few boxers who made a bucket-load of cash in the game.
“No we cannot reveal the figures involved but all I can say is that we are both excited with what we agreed on,” Warren exclusively told the Daily Dispatch from Cape Town.
Warren’s visit will also cover a meeting with SuperSport to televise Tete’s fights live.
Already the pay channel has been airing Tete’s fights held in England including his last bout when he needed 11 seconds to KO Siboniso Gonya to retain his WBO bantamweight crown last November.
Asked about the length of the contract with Tete, Warren said: “It is a multi-year deal and you can simply say we are married for life.”
Tete was scheduled to defend his WBO title against Argentinean Omar Narvaez last Saturday but a calf muscle injury put paid to the plans.
He has since recovered and Warren said plans were afoot to reschedule the fight for April 21 in Belfast on the undercard of highly anticipated clash between Irish Carl Frampton and Nonito Donaire of Philippines.
“It looks that way because we want Zolani to keep fighting in Belfast for obvious reasons,” he said.
Those obvious reasons involve putting pressure on Ryan Burnett of Belfast – who holds WBA and IBF titles in the division – to finally take the bait.
Tete knocked out Gonya in a record-breaking fight in Belfast but Burnett did not attend the fight.
However Burnett has already showed signs of reluctance to risk his belts against the hard-hitting South African but that will not be the end of the road for Queensberry to get Tete a mega-bout.
“There are other bouts on the horizon such as the WBC champion Luis Nery if he beats Yamanaka in their ordered rematch,” he said.
There is also Naoya Inoue who has promised to move up to the bantamweight division and all those bouts are big money fights.”
Tete’s manager Mla Tengimfene was over the moon after what he termed a highly successful meeting.
“Everything went according to plan, now we can go to the gym and get ready for Narvaez,” he said.
Tete finalises lucrative deal with UK firm
Tete was expected to fly to England to thrash out terms for his contract renewal but ended up meeting George Warren of Queensberry Promotion (QP) - his English promoters - who happened to be in Cape Town for a vacation and business.
The 29-year-old left-hander is promoted by QP boss Frank Warren whose tournaments are exclusively shown on BoxNation, a budding television network.
While both parties were tight-lipped about financial terms reached, it is obvious that Tete will follow in the footsteps of a very select few boxers who made a bucket-load of cash in the game.
“No we cannot reveal the figures involved but all I can say is that we are both excited with what we agreed on,” Warren exclusively told the Daily Dispatch from Cape Town.
Warren’s visit will also cover a meeting with SuperSport to televise Tete’s fights live.
Already the pay channel has been airing Tete’s fights held in England including his last bout when he needed 11 seconds to KO Siboniso Gonya to retain his WBO bantamweight crown last November.
Asked about the length of the contract with Tete, Warren said: “It is a multi-year deal and you can simply say we are married for life.”
Tete was scheduled to defend his WBO title against Argentinean Omar Narvaez last Saturday but a calf muscle injury put paid to the plans.
He has since recovered and Warren said plans were afoot to reschedule the fight for April 21 in Belfast on the undercard of highly anticipated clash between Irish Carl Frampton and Nonito Donaire of Philippines.
“It looks that way because we want Zolani to keep fighting in Belfast for obvious reasons,” he said.
Those obvious reasons involve putting pressure on Ryan Burnett of Belfast – who holds WBA and IBF titles in the division – to finally take the bait.
Tete knocked out Gonya in a record-breaking fight in Belfast but Burnett did not attend the fight.
However Burnett has already showed signs of reluctance to risk his belts against the hard-hitting South African but that will not be the end of the road for Queensberry to get Tete a mega-bout.
“There are other bouts on the horizon such as the WBC champion Luis Nery if he beats Yamanaka in their ordered rematch,” he said.
There is also Naoya Inoue who has promised to move up to the bantamweight division and all those bouts are big money fights.”
Tete’s manager Mla Tengimfene was over the moon after what he termed a highly successful meeting.
“Everything went according to plan, now we can go to the gym and get ready for Narvaez,” he said.
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