Tete to hang up gloves for conductor’s baton
The future looks bright for Malindi
Surely, successful boxing manager Mlandeli Tengimfene got the answers he was looking for from Makazole Tete after his insipid performance against newly crowned ABU bantamweight champion Roland “King” Malindi at Orient Theatre in East London on Sunday. Music is what Tete must focus on going forwardbecause clearly, boxing is not for him. The bout was dubbed “Now or Never”, and Tengimfene explained last week that it was either boxing or music for Tete.
The crowd that Tete disappointed on Sunday probably cannot wait for his CD. He has a choral music choir and is a conductor. Tengimfene said he hired retired boxer Mabhuti Sinyabi to assist Tete and also had the boxer in camp for eight weeks but that was just a futile exercise and a total waste of money.
Tete – who was like a punching bag which does not hit back – is trained by Loyiso Mtya, Mhikiza Myekeni and Thulasizwe Tyisi.
It came as no shock when all three judges scored the glorified sparr ing session 119-109. The last time Tete fought the same way he fought on Sunday was when he dropped another lopsided points decision to Gideon Buthelezi for the IBO bantamweight title in 2015. Then, Tete later accused Buthelezi of using muthi. Malindi – the 24-year-old current SA and ABU SADC bantamweight champion from Limpopo – is trained in Westbury by Bernie Pailman. Malindi’s future looks bright. In the main bout of Last Born Promotions, Simpiwe “Chain Reaction” Konkco – from the HotBox Gym of Colin Nathan – retained his IBO mini flyweight belt via a nocontest. His bout against Filipino Joey Canoy was stopped in the fourth round on doctor’s recommendations after it became clear that blood was preventing Konkco from seeing his man.
He suffered a bad cut on his forehead after an accidental clash of heads with Canoy.
‘ ‘ Music is what Tete must focus on going forward