Zolani Tete, a former two-division world champion, is dead at 38 following a shooting outside his home in Mdantsane, South Africa. The South African Department of Sport verified Tete’s death Friday night.
Tete started his professional career 13-0 before receiving his first shot at world championship gold. Tete lost that first championship opportunity when he was stopped by fellow South African Moruti Mthalane in their IBF flyweight title bout.
After the loss to Mthalane, Tete went just 3-2 before a 12-fight winning streak launched him into the ranks of boxing’s best and most exciting fighters.
During that streak, Tete took a decision win over Teiru Kinoshita to capture the IBF junior bantamweight championship. He made one successful defense of that title, a knockout of Paul Butler, before vacating the title rather than face a mandatory challenger.
Tete eventually moved to bantamweight, where he went on to defeat Arthur Villanueva for the interim WBO championship. He would then be elevated to full champion, where he made his first defense of the title against Siboniso Gonya. Tete knocked out Gonya with his first punch of the fight, setting a record for the fastest knockout in a title fight in boxing history.
Tete made two more defense of the belt before suffering an upset third-round knockout loss to John Riel Casimero.
Tete bounced back with two wins, but tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in the second of those fights. He was subsequently suspended for four years, a period that ended just weeks before his murder.
