Mdantsane boxing hero Zolani Tete will finally come face-to-face with his challenger Paul Butler in a press conference scheduled in Liverpool, UK, today.
The pair collide for Tete’s IBF world junior-bantamweight title at Echo Arena on Friday in Tete’s first defence of the title he won in Japan in July last year.
Having wrapped up his preparations at home, Tete is just doing slight training to maintain the weight which is a few grams above the junior-bantamweight limit.
“We are cruising along with just light training and we are almost at the weight,” said Tete’s manager Mla Tengimfene.
Tete plans to use the win as birthday present as he will celebrate his day two days after the fight.
He sees the fight as a good omen as it will mark a birthday celebration of note having won the title on the day when the late Nelson Mandela was celebrating his.
“As you can see that my fights coincide with a birthday celebration and this time it will be mine,” he said.
“I celebrated Madiba’s birthday in style by giving the country a world title and now it will be my time to celebrate my own by retaining this title.”
As if Tete’s birthday celebration is not a motivation enough, Tengimfene also celebrated his own on Sunday.
“March is an important month in our team because we have birthday celebrations and we cannot allow Butler to spoil that,” said Tengimfene.
The 26-year-old Mdantsane southpaw is the only boxer in the country who currently owns an IBF title which used to be dominated by SA boxers including Welcome Ncita, Vuyani Bungu, Zolani Petelo, Phillip Holiday and Lehlo Ledwaba.
Ncita was the first boxer from the Eastern Cape to win the IBF title when he beat Fabrice Benechou in 1990 and Bungu remains the only boxer to hold a record for most world title defences when he defended the IBF junior-featherweight title 13 times.
Coincidentally Ledwaba will be in Tete’s corner when he faces Butler who is also chasing for his own history as he will attempt to break a 104 British boxing record of winning a world title in a heavier division and then drop down to win another in a lighter weight class.
Butler, who is the same age as Tete, is unbeaten in 17 bouts with eight stoppages while Tete has three losses in 22 bouts.
The fight will unlikely be televised in SA but Tete’s promoter Branco Milenkovic revealed that he wrote to SABC to ask for the bout to be screened live.
Tete looking for cakewalk in UK arena
The pair collide for Tete’s IBF world junior-bantamweight title at Echo Arena on Friday in Tete’s first defence of the title he won in Japan in July last year.
Having wrapped up his preparations at home, Tete is just doing slight training to maintain the weight which is a few grams above the junior-bantamweight limit.
“We are cruising along with just light training and we are almost at the weight,” said Tete’s manager Mla Tengimfene.
Tete plans to use the win as birthday present as he will celebrate his day two days after the fight.
He sees the fight as a good omen as it will mark a birthday celebration of note having won the title on the day when the late Nelson Mandela was celebrating his.
“As you can see that my fights coincide with a birthday celebration and this time it will be mine,” he said.
“I celebrated Madiba’s birthday in style by giving the country a world title and now it will be my time to celebrate my own by retaining this title.”
As if Tete’s birthday celebration is not a motivation enough, Tengimfene also celebrated his own on Sunday.
“March is an important month in our team because we have birthday celebrations and we cannot allow Butler to spoil that,” said Tengimfene.
The 26-year-old Mdantsane southpaw is the only boxer in the country who currently owns an IBF title which used to be dominated by SA boxers including Welcome Ncita, Vuyani Bungu, Zolani Petelo, Phillip Holiday and Lehlo Ledwaba.
Ncita was the first boxer from the Eastern Cape to win the IBF title when he beat Fabrice Benechou in 1990 and Bungu remains the only boxer to hold a record for most world title defences when he defended the IBF junior-featherweight title 13 times.
Coincidentally Ledwaba will be in Tete’s corner when he faces Butler who is also chasing for his own history as he will attempt to break a 104 British boxing record of winning a world title in a heavier division and then drop down to win another in a lighter weight class.
Butler, who is the same age as Tete, is unbeaten in 17 bouts with eight stoppages while Tete has three losses in 22 bouts.
The fight will unlikely be televised in SA but Tete’s promoter Branco Milenkovic revealed that he wrote to SABC to ask for the bout to be screened live.
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