Zolani Tete

Zolani Tete (8 March 1988 – 21 August 2026) was a South African professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2022. He was a two-weight world champion, having held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-bantamweight title from 2014 to 2015 and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight title from 2017 to 2019.

Tete held the Guinness World Record for the fastest knockout in a title fight in boxing history, knocking out Siboniso Gonya in eleven seconds of the opening round.

Tete was shot and killed outside his home in Mdantsane on 21 August 2026, aged 38.

Early life and amateur career Tete grew up in Mdantsane township and he had a rough childhood. His father Zolile Tete is a pastor. He and his brother, Makazole, took up boxing when Zolani was eight. He looked up to South African former world champions Vuyani Bungu and Welcome Ncita while in the unpaid ranks.

Zolani Tete was later trained by Bungu. Tete claimed to have had over 400 amateur bouts, only three of which were losses. As an amateur he fought Hekkie Budler former WBA world minifly and WBA and IBF World junior flyweight champion and The Ring champ twice in the South African national games. Tete won one and lost one to Hekkie.

Professional career

Flyweight Tete made his professional debut in May 2006, winning his first eight fights by stoppage. In his eighth bout he won the WBF flyweight title, which he defended twice. Tete earned a shot at a major world title for the first time, beating Richard Garcia in a title eliminator by unanimous decision (118–108, 118–108, 118–110). Tete went on to face Moruti Mthalane for the IBF flyweight title, suffering his first loss with a round 5 technical knockout (TKO).

Junior bantamweight After the loss to Mthalane, Tete moved up to junior-bantamweight. He received an opportunity to fight in an IBF eliminator, but lost a majority decision (112–115, 112–115, 113–113) to Juan Alberto Rosas. After a bounce-back win, Tete fought in yet another eliminator but lost by split decision (113–115, 114–115, 115–114) to Roberto Sosa. Tete seemed to befuddle Sosa with his length early on, but as the fight went on Sosa surged and earned the nod. Sosa received a warning due to low blows but there were not any point deductions made.

In November 2013, Tete fought in a third IBF junior-bantamweight eliminator against former champion Juan Carlos Sánchez Jr. Sánchez had lost the IBF title due to coming in overweight against Sosa, thus leaving the title vacant after beating Sosa. The winner would be the IBF's mandatory challenger to the winner of the Liborio Solís-Daiki Kameda unification bout. Tete knocked down Sánchez in round five before being dropped himself in round six. After being knocked down, Tete resorted to excessive holding, losing points in rounds eight and nine. However, he was able to put Sánchez away in round ten.

Tete vs. Kinoshita Solís beat Kameda, but he also lost his title on the scales, leaving the IBF title vacant. Tete faced Teiru Kinoshita in July 2014 for the vacant title, winning a comfortable unanimous decision (119–109, 119–109, 118–110). After one successful defence, he chose to vacate the title rather than fight mandatory challenger McJoe Arroyo. Tete went on to sign with British promoter Frank Warren in December 2015.

Bantamweight Tete made his bantamweight debut in 2016. In his third fight in the division in 2017, Tete claimed the WBO interim by beating Arthur Villanueva. Tete won a wide unanimous decision (120–107, 119–108, 119–108), dropping Villanueva in round eleven. Tete was later elevated to full champion by the WBO.

Tete vs. Gonya, fastest knockout in a title fight In his first defense of his title on 18 November 2017, Tete fought against challenger Siboniso Gonya at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Tete in the first five seconds of the opening round, landed his first and only punch of the fight on Gonya with a right hook, knocking the challenger out cold before the fight was stopped by the eleventh second.

The knockout win not only allowed Tete to retain the title, but it also broke the previous record set by Daniel Jiménez's 17-second knockout of Harald Geier on 3 September 1994, which held the record for 8,477 days prior to Tete's bout. Tete's feat was later registered in the Guinness World Records and still holds the record as of 2026.

Tete vs. Narvaez On 21 April 2018, Tete defended his WBO belt against Omar Narvaez, who was WBO #1 ranked contender at the time. In a highly unexciting bout, Tete still managed to get a unanimous decision victory, winning 120–108 on all three scorecards.

Tete vs. Aloyan In his next title defense, Tete faced Mikhail Aloyan, ranked #5 by the WBA and #6 by the WBO. Tete won the fight on all three scorecards, 114–111, 114–111, and 114–110.

Tete vs. Donaire cancellation Tete was scheduled to face Nonito Donaire on 27 April 2019, but pulled out of the fight due to a shoulder injury.

Tete vs. Casimero In his next bout, Tete fought former world champion John Riel Casimero. Casimero dropped Tete twice before the referee waved the fight off in the third round and awarded Casimero the TKO win.

Doping ban In August 2023, Tete was given a four-year ban for an anti-doping rule violation after testing positive for stanozolol. The ban ended on 29 July 2026.

Death On 21 August 2026, Tete was shot to death outside of his home in his hometown of Mdantsane after being ambushed by two armed men wearing balaclavas. His female companion was also wounded and was taken to hospital. In the days following the attack, multiple arrests were made by the Eastern Cape police but further details of the case were not announced as the investigation was said to be sensitive.

Professional boxing record

Titles in boxing

Major world titles IBF junior-bantamweight champion (115 lbs) WBO bantamweight champion (118 lbs)

Interim world titles WBO interim bantamweight champion (118 lbs)

Minor world titles WBF flyweight champion (112 lbs)

Regional/International titles WBO Africa flyweight champion (112 lbs) WBO Africa junior-bantamweight champion (115 lbs) IBF International bantamweight champion (118 lbs)