DREAMLAND BECKONS
The South African vows to end his reign of terror
Tete’s fists to put an end to reign of terror
A reign of terror by Filipino Nonito Donaire against SA boxers that started in 2008 will finally come to an end when he faces Zolani Tete on a date yet to be determined.
This warning was issued by Tete after the veteran Filipino booked a World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) semifinal clash against him following his bizarre win over Ryan Burnett last weekend.
Donaire was awarded the fight by technical knockout in the fourth round after Burnett injured his back while throwing a right hand.
This means that Donaire will now face Tete, who booked his own berth with a lopsided win over Russian Mikhail Aloyan last month. Tete will become the fourth SA boxer to face Donaire with the previous three having failed due to a combination of factors.
Firstly it was Moruti Mthalane who fell short to dethrone Donaire of his then IBF flyweight title in 2008. This when Mthalane suffered a cut which led to the fight to be stopped in the sixth round in favour of the Filipino-born boxer.
The second one was Jeffrey Mathebula, who unified his IBF junior-featherweight crown with Donaire’s WBA in 2012.
Donaire scored a unanimous points decision breaking Mathebula’s jaw in the process.
The Filipino continued to prove to be a SA boxing bogeyman when he again dethroned Simpiwe Vetyeka of his WBA featherweight title in controversial circumstances in 2014 in Macau.
Donaire suffered a deep cut which was deemed to have been caused by an accidental headbutt forcing the premature end to the fight. The decision went to the scorecards and Donaire was declared the winner and the new champion.
Once again he will face another SA boxer in Tete although they have since forged a friendship since they met in Belfast, Northern Ireland where Tete was to defend his WBO bantamweight title against Argentinean and one of Donaire’s victims Omar Narvaez in April this year.
Donaire was also in Belfast to challenge Carl Frampton for the WBO featherweight title which he lost on points forcing him to go back to the bantamweight in which he had not fought in seven years after beating Narvaez.
While in Belfast, Tete and Donaire sent a video recording to Vetyeka wishing him a speedy recovery after he was hit by a passing car which subsequently ended his career.
Commenting about the upcoming fight with Donaire, Tete said the Filipino’s reign of terror would finally come to an end.
“The buck stops here now for him to keep beating my compatriots,” said Tete.
“All these years he has been having his own against my former stablemates but now I will finally end this. In two of his wins over SA boxers he was extremely lucky because when he beat Mthalane, Mthalane was beginning to come on strongly. It was the same with Vetyeka because Vetyeka was beginning to figure him out when suddenly the fight had to be stopped by a cut.”
Tete admitted that Donaire is his friend and he is the closest boxer to him in the series.
“Even when we were in Russia for the WBSS draw, I chilled with him more than others because we both could speak English.
“Inoue (Naoya) was also friendly but because of the language barrier we did not enjoy a free chat like I did with Donaire.”
The date of the semifinal clash will be revealed in due course by organisers Comosa AG with February likely to be a tentative date.