Champion without a belt guns for WBO title
Victory in an eliminator against Filipino to pave way for WBO title
IN GREAT SHAPE: Former IBF junior-bantamweight champion Zolani Tete says his troublesome lower back won’t stop him from beating Arthur Villanueva on Saturday ZOLANI Tete struggled with a lower back injury in a sparring session this week, but the boxer insisted he was on the mend ahead of his crucial bout in England on Saturday.
The Mdantsane-based fighter takes on Arthur Villanueva of the Philippines in an eliminator in Leicester for the right to fight for the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) bantamweight title.
The winner will know his opponent the following day, when champion Marlon Tapales, another Filipino, defends his belt against Shohei Omori of Japan in Osaka next Sunday.
Right now no South African holds a belt belonging to any of the four major sanctioning bodies — the WBO, the World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation (IBF) — although Tete can be deemed a champion without a belt having given up his IBF title in a spat over a purse in 2015.
Tete is hoping his road to title No 3 will not be derailed by the injury that struck for the first time while doing roadwork.
“I was running a week back and I could feel some pain in my back,” he said this week before flying out with trainer Loyiso Mtya on Wednesday. “I was at my physio [the morning before the sparring] and he worked a lot on my back so I could feel some pain [in training] and I didn’t want to push too hard.”
At one point Tete called a temporary halt to the sparring as the pain became too much, and between rounds assistant trainer Phumzile Matyhila massaged his back.
“I think I can fight and I’m going to fight and hopefully that won’t disturb me,” Tete said, adding he had been given exercises by the physio.
Tete, clearly in great shape, looked more comfortable in training the next day. “I’m feeling a lot better today.
“Hopefully by next week I’ll be pain-free and fighting smartly.”
Tete has trained in Johannesburg for eight weeks, and sparring partners included former foe Moruti Mthalane, the one-time IBF flyweight king who won their 2010 scrap by stoppage.
Tete, having previously held a peripheral world title, was too inexperienced at the time. “That was my turning point.
“It actually gave me more energy, more motivation to want to fight again . . . if I can train more and become more focused, I can become world champion.
“I was not 100% focused for the fight [against Mthalane] and, honestly speaking, I was not ready for the fight because there was a lot that was happening with my camp during that time.
“There were times when I would be training by myself, with no trainers, but it’s all water under the bridge now,” said Tete, who won the IBF juniorbantamweight title in 2015.
He made one defence of that belt before relinquishing it in an argument over money.
“I was fighting for my rights because I was offered a very [small] purse. Not even here in South Africa can I be offered that purse . . .
“It was difficult [to give up the title] because I fought very hard for [it] . . . I have to support my family,” added the father of two who is engaged to be married around the end of the year.
Tete had received a bigger purse when he challenged for that belt.
“It was [also] far less than [the purse for] my first defence. It was very bad.”
Tete, 29, has a record of 24 wins, 20 of them inside the distance, and three losses. His 28year-old opponent, Villanueva, on the Frank Warren-promoted tournament is 30-1 (16 KOs).
If I train more, become more focused, I can become world champion