Boxing: Two-time world champion Zolani Tete shot dead outside home in South Africa - BBC Sport
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Two-time world champion Tete shot dead outside his home in South Africa.
Image source: Getty Images
Image caption: Zolani Tete was a former WBO bantamweight and IBF junior-bantamweight world champion
By Jude Winter, BBC Sport journalist
Published 2 hours ago
Two-time world champion Zolani Tete has been shot dead outside his home in South Africa. The 38-year-old was killed in what has been described as an ambush in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape on Friday.
Officials stated that Tete was in his car waiting for the gate to his house to open when two armed suspects in balaclavas emerged from a vehicle and fired "multiple shots" at him and a 27-year-old female passenger, who remains in hospital.
South Africa's minister of sport, arts and culture, Gayton McKenzie, expressed his sorrow: "South Africa has lost one of the finest fighters it has ever produced." The two suspects fled the scene, and a major investigation has been launched.
Tete held the WBO bantamweight title from 2017 to 2019, as well as the IBF super-flyweight title in 2014. He fought eight times in the United Kingdom, beating Liverpool's Paul Butler in 2015 among other notable victories.
Tete also holds a Guinness World Record for the fastest knockout in a title fight, ending his match with Siboniso Gonya inside 11 seconds in 2017.
Tete last fought in July 2022, defeating Briton Jason Cunningham by knockout in London. However, his fight was later ruled a no-contest after he tested positive for anabolic steroid stanozolol and received a four-year ban from the UK Anti-Doping Agency. His ban ended on 29 July, 2026. Following his death, his manager Mla Tengimfene confirmed that Tete had been training for a comeback fight.
Tete had 29 wins in 34 fights, with four losses and one no-contest.